When transporting everyone to the People of the Hundred Faces' village, Rei used the Sand Ship to carry the people, carriages, and camels.
Neena, a leader among Daridora's subordinates, was surprised by the Sand Ship suddenly appearing before her eyes, surprised that it had belonged to Daridora, surprised at how casually Rei loaded everyone aboard, and surprised by its travel speed.
The Sand Ship could be called the finest means of travel for crossing the desert.
Of course, there were beings like Rei's partner Set, who could travel from the People of the Hundred Faces' village to Gauche in a matter of minutes.
But that was ultimately a special case, not the norm.
For one thing, unlike a Sand Ship, Set couldn't carry much cargo. ...Though in Rei's case, he had the Misty Ring as an option.
In contrast, traveling by Sand Ship made it possible to transport large quantities of cargo, people, and animals all at once.
Even so, the reason Sand Ships had never been utilized for cargo transport was, as one might expect, because they were extraordinarily expensive.
"I never expected to arrive so quickly. It's wonderful. If only Sand Ships could be purchased more easily, travel and commerce in the desert would go much more smoothly, but..."
Upon arriving at the People of the Hundred Faces' village and disembarking from the Sand Ship, Neena expressed her gratitude for Rei's use of the vessel before making that remark.
"Yeah. If they trimmed a few more features and kept only the bare minimum of functionality, they might get a bit cheaper, but it'd be difficult."
A Sand Ship was both a vehicle and a kind of status symbol that displayed one's wealth simply by owning it.
Whether the owners would deliberately turn their Sand Ships into what could only be called a budget version and devalue their own property... the answer was no.
Within Solrein, there were several people besides Daridora who owned Sand Ships — or rather, had owned them.
But would such people do something that diminished the value of their own Sand Ships?
Reading that implicit message in Rei's words, Neena let out a small sigh, as if to say, "I suppose you're right."
Her sorrowful expression was likely due to losing what could have been the seed of a major business opportunity.
At any rate, as Neena looked dejected, a somewhat exasperated voice echoed around them.
"As always, you're only good at playing innocent."
When Rei turned his gaze toward the source of the voice, he found Narcus standing there.
Much like his exasperated tone, Narcus wore a somewhat exasperated expression as he looked at Neena.
(They're both Daridora's subordinates, so it's natural that they'd know each other.)
Rei found this understandable, but as if to say his understanding was irrelevant, Neena — who was supposed to be disheartened — snapped her head up and glared at Narcus.
"My, my, Narcus-san. I thought you weren't in Gauche, and here you are in a place like this. I was certain you'd been let go."
"Hoh. So you didn't know I was here. Lord Daridora must have decided there was no need to inform you about the matter."
They were exchanging words, but the air flowing between them was cold.
Though Neena wore a smile, her eyes weren't smiling at all.
Narcus, for his part, made it clear through his attitude that even conversing with the woman before him was unpleasant.
Even so, neither showed any intention of backing down, and Rei felt as though he could see sparks flying between them.
"Uh... is it about time? We can't stay here forever, you know? The others are looking troubled too."
Not everyone had even disembarked from the Sand Ship yet, and already this exchange had broken out.
Naturally, the others couldn't disembark and were left standing around, some looking bewildered.
...Though the bewildered ones were only the personnel Augusto had sent; those dispatched by Daridora wore expressions that seemed to say, "Not again."
Even so, Rei wanted to investigate the village as quickly as possible, and wasting time here was nothing but a nuisance.
Neither Neena nor Narcus voiced it since Rei was their superior, but their honest feeling was likely that they wanted to disembark quickly.
"Oh, I apologize. I'll step aside right away. ...Honestly, thanks to someone, we've ended up wasting time."
"Hoh, and who exactly is this 'someone' you speak of? I'd love to hear the details."
"You don't understand? Honestly, this is why..."
"As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather not have some vixen meddling with Rei and causing unnecessary trouble."
"...My, a vixen? But please don't worry. Even if such a person existed, I would chase them off for you."
"No, no, that's impossible. After all..."
At the exchange that had started up again, Rei opened his mouth with exasperation.
"That's enough. You both know that if we don't investigate the village and... dispose of the corpses quickly, things will get pretty bad, right?"
At Rei's words, both Neena and Narcus seemed to come back to themselves. They cleared their throats, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Ahem. ...So, Rei. Is this everyone? Well, you came here on the Sand Ship, so I can't imagine there being anyone else."
At Narcus's words, spoken as if to deflect the topic, Rei nodded.
"Yeah, this is everyone. So, did anything abnormal happen while I was gone? ...No, I don't even need to ask."
If there had been any abnormality, they wouldn't have had the leisure to engage in such foolish banter.
And sure enough, Narcus nodded in response to Rei's words.
"No problems. Zarust went to check on the oasis for a moment, but he should be back soon."
"I see. ...Then we should start investigating the village and cleaning up soon."
At those words, everyone present disembarked from the Sand Ship and proceeded into the village.
The adventurers dispatched as guards, in particular, moved faster than the rest — they needed to learn the layout of the village as quickly as possible or they wouldn't be able to respond when monsters attacked.
In fact, it was clear that the adventurers would be the busiest with this village investigation.
Escort duties, investigation, and even the disposal of the corpses in the village — all of it fell on them.
Following after those adventurers, the camel-drawn carriages also descended, and in the blink of an eye, the Sand Ship was devoid of people.
The sole exception was Set, who lay on the deck, seemingly unconcerned about the intensifying sunlight.
Naturally, this lying down didn't mean he was truly sleeping.
As always, he was scanning for whether monsters would attack.
"Set, that's enough! Come down here!"
"Guruuu!"
That was why, when Rei called out, Set rose from the deck and disembarked from the Sand Ship.
"Gururururu."
As Set purred and sought affection, Rei stroked him with a smile.
For some reason, Neena watched Rei with an envious expression.
"Alright then, I'm going to take a look around the village. After that... well, I'll think about it when the time comes."
"Oh, is that so? I was hoping to hear your stories, Rei-san, if possible."
Neena directed an inviting gaze at Rei, but beside her, Narcus was giving Neena a suspicious look.
At the exchange between the two, Rei lightly shook his head.
"What you should be doing right now is investigating the village, isn't it? Listening to my stories here won't get the investigation done."
"He's right. Exactly what Rei says."
"...Hey, whose side are you on?"
Neena, who had been instructed to build a good relationship with Rei, complained to Narcus with evident displeasure.
But even from Narcus's perspective, he didn't think Neena could accomplish anything with Rei, so he simply gave a small shrug.
For Neena, who had a certain confidence in her own beauty, Narcus's attitude was disagreeable.
...Though, to be fair, Narcus also didn't believe Rei would fall for Neena's wiles, so he was making it clear through his attitude that she shouldn't waste her effort.
From an outsider's perspective, the exchange between the two looked like nothing other than a lover's quarrel.
Though the parties themselves seemed completely unaware of this.
"Alright, sorry but I'm heading ahead. You two can have your lover's quarrel here to your heart's content."
"Wha— Rei-san!? Who's having a lover's quarrel with whom!?"
Neena cried out as if to say this was outrageous, but the words Narcus directed at her only added fuel to the fire.
"Exactly. Why would I be having a lover's quarrel with a vixen like this?"
"...Excuse me? Who's a vixen, and what was that? I think we need to have a detailed conversation."
"Hm? Are you sure? Your mask is slipping in front of Rei, you know?"
Unable to deal with the two any longer as they continued to bicker, Rei stored the Sand Ship into his Misty Ring and headed into the village with Set.
Despite the Sand Ship that had been nearby vanishing into the Misty Ring, the voices behind him continued to argue as if it were of no concern whatsoever, but Rei's honest feeling was that he couldn't put up with them any longer.
"Guruu?"
Is this okay? Set seemed to ask with a purr, but Rei gently stroked him to deflect the question.
Set wasn't entirely unconcerned about the voices coming from behind, but enjoying the pleasant sensation of Rei's petting took priority.
As they walked, the first thing that came into view was, naturally, several people carrying corpses out of houses.
Living in the desert meant that death was closer at hand than in an ordinary village or town.
Venturing out into the desert, in particular, carried far greater danger than going outside in a normal village or town.
Given that, it wouldn't be strange for there to be those accustomed to handling corpses.
But... even so, the men's treatment of the bodies could only be described as rough.
That was, as expected, because the corpses belonged to assassins.
Rei could understand the men's behavior.
After all, Daridora's research facility had been attacked by the People of the Hundred Faces, with not a single survivor.
As fellow subordinates of Daridora, it wouldn't be unusual for some of those carrying the corpses to have known the researchers.
And for those who had lost acquaintances, friends... or even family or lovers, the dead in this village were members of the enemy.
Viewed in that light, the rough treatment of the corpses might be understandable... but Rei still felt slightly displeased by it.
"Hey, don't handle the corpses so carelessly. I'm not telling you to treat them with respect, but don't treat them like garbage."
That was probably why those words slipped out of Rei's mouth.
"Hah!? ...R-Rei-san, was it? I'm sorry. I'll be careful from now on."
The man had been about to shout irritably at first, but upon realizing it was Rei who had called out to him, he quickly bowed his head and shifted his grip on the corpse he'd been holding roughly into a more careful hold.
After confirming that, Rei headed somewhere else with Set.
His destination was the oasis — the lifeline of this village.
Compared to the oasis in Gauche, it was considerably smaller, but it must have been sufficient to sustain the village's inhabitants.
As Rei surveyed the surroundings, he noticed several people investigating the oasis.
Each of them carried tools Rei had never seen before, and the investigators were exchanging their respective opinions.
Watching those people work, the unpleasant scene he had witnessed moments ago seemed to fade from his mind.
Feeling his mood lighten slightly, Rei approached the nearest person among those investigating the oasis.
"How's it going? Did you find out anything?"
The man apparently hadn't expected to be addressed by Rei out of the blue.
He looked slightly startled and hurriedly bowed his head toward Rei.
"Ah, Rei-san. Um... yes. For now, we've confirmed that the water is safe to drink. However, raising fish like in Gauche is probably impossible."
"...I figured."
Compared to Gauche's massive oasis — so large one might be tempted to call it a lake — the one before him was clearly small.
Given that, the conclusion that fish couldn't be raised was only natural.
After talking with the man for a few more minutes, Rei resumed walking around the area with Set.
The desert sun poured its intense light onto the ground below, as it did today as well.
(Maybe it's about time I head back to Gilm.)
Seeing all of this, Rei found himself vaguely thinking that.