The day after posting the Sand Lizardman dismantling request at the Guild, Rei was naturally at the Guild.
Before him stood fifteen adventurers.
All of them had surged forward the moment the request was posted at the Guild yesterday and fought their way to winning the job.
It was a dismantling request with no danger involved and better-than-average pay. On top of that, it offered the chance to become acquainted with an Alias Holder adventurer... With so many perks bundled together, a large number of adventurers had tried to accept Rei's request.
Because there were so many applicants, the Guild selected those they deemed most suitable, narrowing it down to this number.
...Since it had happened during the daytime, the commotion only escalated to that extent. But if the request had been posted in the morning or evening when more adventurers were around, it would have become an even bigger uproar—or so the Guild Staff Member felt.
Originally, Gauche didn't have as many adventurers as Gilm.
Because of that, hardly anyone had ever experienced a large number of adventurers rushing the reception desk all at once... Since it had caused that much of an uproar even right after Rei had left, there were those who trembled at the thought of what might have happened if the same situation had occurred when the place was crowded.
"So, is it fine to leave this to these fifteen?"
"Yes. I believe they are all serious and excellent adventurers."
Several of the adventurers, praised by the receptionist who served as Rei's handler, let their eyes soften in delight.
It was an expression that made it immediately obvious to anyone what feelings they harbored toward her.
"What about a representative, or rather, someone to supervise?"
"The Guild will be providing someone for that."
"...Is that alright?"
The day before, they had mentioned the Guild might send someone, but Rei had still expected they would ultimately leave it to the adventurers.
However, the Guild also wanted to build a friendly relationship with Rei, an Alias Holder adventurer.
If they could sell a favor over something this minor, dispatching someone was no problem at all for the Guild.
There was no telling how long Rei would stay in Gauche, but they likely figured that if some major problem arose during his time there, they might be able to rely on him.
(Maybe they're also hoping I'll do something about the situation with Augusto and Daridora...)
Rei vaguely understood the Guild's intentions, but since there was no disadvantage for him, he gladly accepted.
If an adventurer were to serve as supervisor, Rei wouldn't be able to fully trust them unless it was someone he knew well to a certain extent, like Zarust. But since the Guild had ulterior motives in wanting to make use of him, he judged they wouldn't try anything suspicious here.
As Rei was thinking along these lines, a single beastman approached him.
Seeing the soft-looking triangular ears on top of the person's head, Rei immediately understood that this person was a fox beastman. However...
(Normally, when you think of fox beastmen, don't you think of women? A middle-aged male fox beastman is... honestly, what am I supposed to make of that?)
Looking at the person standing before him, Rei couldn't help but mutter to himself inwardly.
Of course, even among fox beastmen, men naturally existed as well.
Rei knew that, but the reason he still associated fox beastmen with women was probably because he had read games and manga about the nine-tailed fox back in Japan.
"Lord Rei? Is something the matter?"
The fox beastman called out curiously to Rei, who had stopped in his tracks while staring at him.
Startled back to his senses by that voice, Rei hurriedly shook his head to indicate it was nothing.
"No, I was just lost in thought for a moment. So, you're the one?"
"Yes. I am Faith, the one who will be supervising the adventurers for this dismantling request."
Faith bowed his head as he introduced himself.
As he did, his large triangular ears swayed slightly, catching Rei's attention.
"Ah, right. Understood. I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to me. I will see to it that the request is completed properly. ...Now then, let us head to the warehouse right away. We'll need you to bring out the Sand Lizardmen."
With those words, Faith exited the Guild.
Rei followed after him, and the adventurers who had accepted the dismantling request trailed behind as well.
One of the adventurers watching the group go asked his acquaintance with curiosity.
"Hey. Who's that small kid? You got any idea why the Guild staff are being so deferential?"
"Huh? ...Oh, you just got back to Gauche yesterday on a guard job, didn't you? Let me tell you, you shouldn't mess with Rei. And I mean that in terms of actual ability too."
"Hah? Hey, are you saying I'd lose to that little runt?"
"Yeah."
Hearing his acquaintance, who should have known his own strength, state it without any hesitation whatsoever, the man wore an expression of disbelief.
But the man who had made the declaration nodded back at him as if to say he understood how he felt.
"You want to say that can't be true, right? But unfortunately, there's probably no adventurer in Gauche who could beat Rei."
"...That much?"
It was a little hard to believe, but when shown that his acquaintance wasn't joking or anything of the sort, the man couldn't help but press for more.
"Yeah. After all, he's an Alias Holder B-Rank Adventurer."
"...Why the hell is a monster like that here?"
The man muttered in blank amazement upon learning Rei's identity, but his acquaintance could only answer that he had no idea.
Completely unaware that such talk about him was going around, Rei had arrived at the warehouse together with the accepted adventurers and Faith.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't a warehouse, but its size was such that calling it one seemed accurate.
It was the same warehouse where the Sand Serpent had been dismantled before, and this wasn't Rei's first time coming here.
"Now then, if you please."
Prompted by Faith, Rei nodded and began producing Sand Lizardman corpses one after another from his Misty Ring.
Seeing this, the other adventurers let out loud cries of surprise.
They had understood that Rei possessed a Misty Ring, but this was their first time seeing it in action.
Treating the surrounding reactions as business as usual, Rei finished bringing out all the Sand Lizardman corpses and spoke to Faith.
"Then, can I leave the rest to you?"
"Yes, leave it to us."
After exchanging those brief words, Rei left the warehouse as he was.
Passing straight through to the outside without going through the Guild, he joined Set, who had been waiting there, and the two began wandering around town together.
"Gurururu?"
Set looked at him with a purr, as if asking what they were going to do next. Rei hesitated slightly.
Unable to go outside the city, he couldn't very well go hunting monsters.
That being the case, his options were to spend the time eating street food, absorb the Sand Lizardman Magic Stones somewhere no one would find him, return to Augusto's mansion to practice Twin Spear Style, or eat street food, eat street food, or perhaps... eat street food.
(Well, what to do. ...I'd like to absorb the Sand Lizardman Magic Stones if possible, but there was that incident before. ...Yeah, it can't be helped. It's got to be eating street food after all. I'd like to practice Twin Spear Style too, but getting absorbed solely in that wouldn't accomplish much.)
Above all, Gauche had many spice-heavy dishes that piqued Rei's interest.
(Spices, spices, huh. ...I'd like to eat curry, but I don't know how to make it.)
For Rei, the only curry he had ever made was curry using curry roux.
He only knew things like how mixing several types of roux made it tastier, or how adding ketchup, sauce, soy sauce, coffee, chocolate, or grated apple as finishing touches improved the flavor.
Because of that, the fact that he couldn't make curry even though he wanted to eat it was a significant factor.
(There's no rice either.)
For Rei, curry meant curry rice. Having curry alone wouldn't be completely pointless, but it wouldn't be satisfying.
Still, as he searched for some similar dish, screams suddenly reached his ears from afar.
"What was that?"
"Guru?"
Rei turned his gaze in the direction the screams had come from, but they didn't stop at just one. They came repeatedly, and what was more, they were getting closer.
"Something definitely happened, but... what?"
Rei tilted his head in puzzlement, but the reason for the screams became clear immediately.
"Get back, get back, don't come over here, dammit!"
A man carrying a spear was running down the street, shouting as he went.
With bloodshot eyes, no less.
The tip of the spear he was swinging had blood on it, leaving no need to wonder what the man had done to get this close.
Even now, solely because someone was in the way of his running, he swung his spear at a nearby woman.
Fortunately, since the man appeared to be in a state where he had half lost his senses, the woman was neither stabbed nor slashed by the spearhead, but she was still struck sideways by the shaft and knocked to the ground.
"Heh, hehe. That's what you get... for getting in my way! Hey! If you don't want to end up like that, clear the path!"
The man swung his spear and shouted.
Seeing this, the people around quietly cleared the way, but...
"Hn?"
Seeing someone standing in his path ahead, the man let out a suspicious sound.
He probably hadn't expected anyone to dare stand in his way given his current state.
But immediately, a sneer formed on the man's lips.
Because the one blocking his path was someone a head shorter... well, not quite a full head, but about half a head smaller than him.
He wondered if the person had some powerful companions, but there was no one else around except this individual.
Wearing a robe with the hood down, the face was hidden, but given the small stature, the man even wondered if it might be a woman.
In that case, it was fine. What could a woman do against him? Making that judgment, the man charged toward his opponent with spear in hand.
Without realizing at all that the person there was not a woman, but... an existence equivalent to the Grim Reaper for him.
"Oraaaaaah, get out of the waaay!"
He shouted as he closed the distance with the person blocking his path — with Rei — and the moment he tried to swing his spear, the man's consciousness easily fell into darkness.
"...I didn't even need to have Set do anything."
Looking down at the man who had lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground, Rei turned his gaze in the direction the man had come from.
What was there was Set.
Seeing this man running toward them, Rei had positioned himself in front of the man and asked Set to block his escape route so the man couldn't flee.
And the most likely direction for the man to try to escape was the way with fewer people... in other words, the direction he had just come from.
That was why Set had quickly moved to block the path the man had run from.
This had been possible because the man was causing a commotion and the attention of everyone around was directed at him.
Normally, if they saw Set running, the surrounding attention would definitely have been drawn to it.
...Though in Gilm, it might have been different.
"Gururu"
At Rei's words, Set approached with a purr.
As Rei petted Set's head, he found himself unsure of what to do about the unconscious man.
He couldn't very well kill him, but he couldn't just leave him here either.
The safest option would be to hand him over to the guards who would eventually come... Just as that thought crossed his mind, he spotted a man running toward him.
And not just approaching casually, but radiating killing intent from his entire body.
Rei's eyes sharpened for a moment at the sight of the man wrapped in killing intent, but they softened somewhat when he recognized the person as someone he knew.
"Zarust, you were chasing this guy too?"
Rei said, shifting his gaze toward the unconscious man.
But Zarust didn't answer Rei's words and walked straight toward the unconscious man.
"Hey?"
Rei called out again, but Zarust showed no sign of responding and raised the longsword he was gripping...
"Hey!"
Rei instantly pulled the Death Scythe from his Misty Ring and extended it, catching the blow of Zarust's longsword.
With Rei's physical strength behind the one-hundred-kilogram Death Scythe, Zarust, who had swung his longsword down with full force, had the blow deflected as a matter of course, and the longsword flew right out of his hands.
(That strike was aimed at his arm. If so, did he not intend to kill? But why would he suddenly do something like that?)
Zarust, whose longsword had been deflected, must have only then noticed Rei was there.
He tried to shout something but stopped his words in surprise.
"...Rei?"
"Yeah. So, why are you so worked up with killing intent?"
"...Augusto is..."
Zarust showed that he couldn't put it into words beyond that, but seeing that, Rei could easily imagine why Zarust was so full of killing intent.
"Tch!"
Without even bothering to ask Zarust any further questions, Rei broke into a run.
...In the direction Zarust had come running from.