Rei killed the Cobolt Leader—or rather, obliterated it in a way that could honestly be called an explosion—and picked up the Magic Stone before surveying his surroundings.
A short distance away sat the caravan's wagons, and behind them, the fighting had already ended.
With Vihera and Set—one person and one beast—having assaulted the Goblin pack, it was only natural that the battle had concluded quickly.
Magic Stone in hand, he turned his gaze to the scattered chunks of flesh that could barely even be called the remains of the Cobolt Leader.
Torn apart to this degree, it would struggle to reanimate as an Undead. The flesh was too dispersed for it to become a Zombie, and the bones were equally scattered, ruling out a Skeleton as well.
With that in mind, there was probably nothing to worry about.
For the time being, he recovered only the head, which had survived intact thanks to his aim at the torso, and stored it in the Misty Ring alongside Death Scythe, the Twilight Spear, and the Magic Stone before heading back toward the caravan.
The distance he had covered in the blink of an eye while chasing the Cobolt Leader took considerably longer to traverse on foot.
As he walked, he touched the wrist that had been gripping Death Scythe, checking its condition.
A dull ache lingered—the recoil from using Power Slash.
Figured I dispersed the recoil well enough... Then again, I used to hold Death Scythe with both hands. Wielding it one-handed probably has something to do with it.
If he was going to use Power Slash during Twin Spear Style, he needed to manage the recoil even better than he currently did.
He continued walking while mulling this over, eventually arriving at the caravan.
The merchants and Vihera were already in conversation.
The escort adventurers who had been fighting at the front of the caravan simply stared in blank amazement as Rei returned.
Do they not know who I am? ...Not to brag, but I'm fairly well-known. It's hard to believe adventurers working around here wouldn't recognize me.
Slightly puzzled by the stares directed his way, Rei called out to them.
"Everyone safe?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. We've got some injuries, but thanks to you, Rei-san, they're minor."
Judging by how quickly his name had come out, they did know him after all.
But that still left the question of why they were so stunned.
Well, even if I asked, they probably wouldn't give me a straight answer.
If they were afraid of him, they certainly wouldn't honestly tell the object of their fear why they looked so terrified.
In any case, sticking around would only needlessly put the escort adventurers on edge, so Rei headed toward Vihera and the others.
The escort adventurers opened their mouths as if to call out to him as he walked away... but in the end, none of them could bring themselves to speak.
"H-hey. It's because you didn't say something sooner..."
"What? Then why didn't you call out first?"
"That's... true. But man, that was incredible. So that's an Alias Holder."
The escort adventurers, whom Rei had mistakenly believed were afraid of him, were in truth overwhelmed by his sheer strength.
If they had prepared properly, defeating a pack of Cobolts wouldn't have been all that difficult for them.
But if asked whether they could have fought like that—in a manner that could only be described as a rout—the answer would be a resounding no.
His explosive speed when he chased down the fleeing Cobolt Leader, and the way his massive scythe didn't merely cut the Cobolts but pulverized them—those strikes left a searing impression on the adventurers.
...Yes. These adventurers weren't afraid of Rei. They were captivated by him.
All of the men were in their twenties, but the raw power displayed by an adventurer younger than themselves was more than enough to inspire admiration.
Of course, admiration wasn't the only feeling stirring among them. Some harbored something closer to jealousy.
But even so, the dominant emotion by far was admiration. That much was certain.
Completely oblivious to how they saw him, Rei made his way to Vihera.
She was speaking with the merchant who appeared to be leading the caravan, while Set lay resting a short distance away, as usual, keeping watch over the surroundings.
Naturally, the only ones who knew that Set was actually maintaining vigilance in that state were Rei and Vihera. To everyone else, he simply looked like he was sleeping.
"Rei, your side's all wrapped up too?" Vihera called out as he approached.
Rei nodded, then spoke. "Yeah. Finished off the Cobolt Leader as well. Your side... actually, no need to ask."
Rei averted his gaze and took in the field of Goblin corpses.
The Cobolts had looked as though they'd been routed, and the same was true for the Goblins.
No—since it had been an assault by Vihera and Set, one person and one beast, the scale of the carnage was even greater.
Many of Vihera's attacks caused internal destruction, like Magic Impact Palm, but naturally, regular strikes consumed less magic power and were quicker.
And when she attacked using the Magic Items that produced claws on her gauntlets and blades on her greaves, the targets suffered gruesome external wounds.
Which meant blood, flesh, and viscera were scattered liberally across the ground.
Rei glanced at the escort adventurers as they gathered the corpses, then turned his attention to the merchant who had been speaking with Vihera moments before.
A stout man in his forties—fat would be a more accurate description.
Despite that, he hadn't shown the slightest sign of fear after being attacked by packs of Goblins and Cobolts. He was clearly the type to have the nerve to run a caravan even with packs of various monsters roaming about.
"You said your name was Rei-san, yes? I am Lutcho, leader of this caravan. Thank you for saving us. To be honest, without you and your companions, we'd have been wiped out—or if not that, we'd certainly have taken heavy losses."
At Lutcho's deep bow, Rei shook his head.
"Don't mention it. Not many caravans are coming to Gilm these days. In that sense, for those of us living here, helping is only natural. More importantly—you were attacked by both Cobolts and Goblins at the same time. Do you think that was a coincidence?"
"No. It was clear they were cooperating with each other. I wouldn't call it coordinated exactly, but the Goblin pack hit us from behind, and as we tried to flee, the Cobolts struck from the front."
"...I see. Through your merchant network, have you heard anything that might explain this?"
Rei asked as a formality, but Lutcho silently shook his head.
He probably hadn't imagined that packs of different species would cooperate to attack like this.
"You should report this to the Guild. Would that be a problem?"
"Not at all. Of course. To keep other caravans from falling victim, we'd actually prefer to report it ourselves."
Contrary to his appearance, Lutcho nodded promptly. Then, glancing toward the heap of Goblin corpses, he spoke.
"We were just discussing with Vihera-san about handling the disposal of the Goblin bodies. But what about the Cobolts?"
Goblins could only be sold for their Subjugation Proof Parts and Magic Stones, but if enough were gathered, they would still add up to a decent sum.
Compared to that, Cobolts would fetch a higher price for certain.
His honest hope was to offset the losses the caravan had suffered in this attack with the Subjugation Proof Parts, Magic Stones, materials, and meat from the Goblins and Cobolts.
The Goblins had been easily acquired through his negotiation with Vihera. For her part, Vihera found processing Goblin corpses to be nothing but a tedious chore, so having someone else handle the cleanup was perfectly agreeable.
Which was why it was only natural for Lutcho to hope the same arrangement might apply to the Cobolts.
"I don't mind," Rei told him flatly.
He already had the single Cobolt Leader Magic Stone he'd obtained, and there was nothing else he particularly wanted.
"Actually, here. Take this too."
He pulled the Cobolt Leader's severed head from the Misty Ring and held it out to Lutcho.
"Whoa!"
Lutcho yelped in surprise as the head was thrust into his hands.
Even for a merchant who regularly visited the frontier city of Gilm, suddenly being handed a severed Cobolt head was enough to make anyone cry out.
Especially so if he'd only heard of a Misty Ring by reputation and was seeing one with his own eyes for the first time.
"Combined with the Subjugation Proof Parts, that should boost your profits considerably."
Rei's generosity was so over the top that Lutcho himself—the one who had asked—wore a look of sheer disbelief.
He had hoped for something like this, but figured it was a long shot. He'd settled for the possibility of getting at least a little something. Being handed every monster corpse was beyond anything he'd imagined.
But for Rei, the money from Cobolt corpses wasn't a significant sum at this point. And as for the meat, he'd already stocked some from the Cobolt Leader he'd defeated a few days earlier.
Truthfully, he had no need for more.
Besides, if I dump that many corpses on the Guild for dismantling, they'd definitely groan about it.
Someone well-disposed toward him, like Lenora or Kenny, might take on the request even if it meant pushing themselves.
But once the current crisis with the massive monster pack outbreak was resolved, what awaited the Guild was undoubtedly the dismantling of an enormous volume of monsters.
And since it was summer, corpses would spoil quickly without a Misty Ring like Rei's. Considering disposal, it could easily reach the point where burning them without bothering to strip materials would be the better option.
Which meant that even to submit a dismantling request, he'd have to wait until the other adventurers had some downtime.
Of course, in winter, when requests to venture outside the city became scarcer, dismantling work—while less profitable than subjugation, gathering, or escort requests—was welcomed as easy labor.
Oh, right. In that case, I could just keep those Cobolts in the Misty Ring for a while... Eh, it's not like I want the meat that badly. Forget it.
He quickly abandoned the thought and turned back to Lutcho.
"This incident—the fact that Goblins and Cobolts were working together—you should report it to the Guild. We're heading there now to file our own report, but with situations like this, it's better to have information coming in from multiple sources."
"Yes, of course. We want this pack situation resolved as quickly as possible, so we'll cooperate as much as we can. We're truly indebted to you and Vihera-san... Um, please, take this."
He held out a basket filled with sandwiches.
"...What's this?"
"Well, I've heard that you, Rei-san, are quite fond of good food, and the gryphon there—Set—is as well. So, as a small token of our gratitude..."
Rei's expression shifted to mild surprise.
He knew that various details about him had made the rounds.
That he specialized in wide-area annihilation using Flame Magic. That he wielded an oversized scythe. That he had a gryphon as a Tamed Monster.
Recently, there'd even been talk that he traveled with an exceedingly beautiful woman.
...Incidentally, exactly who that exceedingly beautiful woman was depended on who you asked. Some said Elena. Others said Vihera. Others still, Marina.
Since all three genuinely fit the description, the information had gotten rather garbled among the rumors.
"Appreciate it. I'll gladly accept."
Not wanting to brush off Lutcho's thoughtfulness, Rei took the sandwiches.
"Alright, we'll be heading out. You're probably fine, but get to Gilm as quickly as you can."
With that, he exchanged a brief farewell and swung himself up onto Set's back.