"Hey, you can't just spring that on me without any warning!"
Once her first meeting with Daskar — over the Paired Orbs, admittedly — came to an end, Sura told Rei in a displeased tone.
The conversation itself hadn't been all that long.
After all, Daskar was currently extremely busy.
The very fact that Sura had been able to speak with him so soon was unusual enough.
...Though the cause of that busyness was largely Rei himself.
Not only had the construction work expanding Gilm increased his workload, but Daskar was also gathering researchers and technicians to make the Sand Ship usable on ordinary ground, and constructing buildings and research institutes for that purpose — all of which only made him even busier.
Additionally, the disassembly of the Gigant Turtle that Rei had defeated couldn't be done quickly, given its sheer size.
Because of all this, Daskar's workload — which had been starting to settle down somewhat — never actually decreased... or rather, had slightly increased.
Rei didn't know it, but Daskar was even taking potions to sustain his energy.
And not cheap, low-quality potions, but high-grade, high-quality ones.
"I said 'suddenly,' but you'd end up meeting him eventually anyway, so isn't now just as good? It wasn't in person — it was over the Paired Orbs."
With Daskar gone and Elena and Ara chatting happily, Rei gave that answer to Sura while watching them.
In truth, he wasn't wrong.
Introducing Sura to Daskar in advance so that he would remember her name would certainly prove useful going forward.
But even knowing that, suddenly meeting Daskar face-to-face — so to speak — was understandably a significant burden for Sura.
...Sura, who led the Resistance in Reblurina, and Daskar, a central figure of the Neutral Faction, one of the Three Great Factions of the Kingdom of Mireana.
The gap between their respective stations was overwhelmingly vast, so Sura's indignation was hardly unreasonable.
"Fine, I'll be careful next time. Anyway, we're done for today. You should get to sleep as soon as possible to rest up for tomorrow."
"Come on... you introduce me to someone that important out of nowhere, and then tell me to go right to sleep... How am I supposed to sleep?"
Sura spoke with a mix of exasperation and indignation, but all around them, many were already exhausted from walking all day and had gone to sleep early.
Rei's ears, far more developed than an ordinary person's, could even pick up the sound of women crying — whether from frustration or sorrow as they recalled their time as prostitutes.
Many of them had given their bodies to unknown men and sold their virtue for money.
For those with strong chastity values, breaking down in sobs wouldn't be unusual.
Last night, they had been freed from their Slave Collars and kept walking right after... and with the Cavalry Unit attacking during the night, many hadn't yet felt the reality of being freed from prostitution.
But today, without any particular incident occurring, that was likely why they were now confronted with their current situation... and reminded of how they had been held by men as prostitutes all this time.
Hearing those voices, Rei could do nothing but leave them be, so long as he didn't think there was anything he could do to solve the problem himself.
"You should get to sleep as soon as you can. Last night was late because of the Cavalry Unit situation, and this morning was early too since we had to sort out the carriages. If you don't rest up here, you might not even notice it yourself, but it'll affect tomorrow's travel."
"...Fine."
Rei's words were undeniably the truth, but for some reason, Sura found it unpleasant to be told that by him.
Even though she knew he was right...
"Hey, Sura! I need to talk to you about the watch rotation! Come here!"
As Rei and Sura were talking, a man from the Resistance called out to her.
Noticing that Sura was talking with Rei, the man quickly bowed his head to Rei.
The man was Sura's subordinate, but his reaction stemmed from knowing that Rei was an indispensable figure to this group.
...Though it was also simply an act of awe born from having seen Rei's power firsthand.
The sight of him one-sidedly cutting down Jaya soldiers — the very soldiers the Resistance had been struggling against — was seared deeply into the man's memory.
"Don't worry about it. We're done talking."
"Ah, right. Understood. Sura, let's go."
"Sure, that's fine, but... doesn't your attitude change a bit too much between me and him?"
As she moved alongside the Resistance man, Sura spoke with dissatisfaction.
But to her words, the man simply offered a wry smile that said what can you do?
"I mean, he's that strong, right? You saw it too, didn't you? And from what I heard, he killed all the giants too... ah, no. Sorry."
The moment giants came up, a dark shadow fell over Sura's expression.
Knowing how giants were born... it was only natural that she would have complicated feelings about their existence.
Moreover, Sura was a woman herself.
To have an unwanted child forcibly turned into a giant, and then have that child devour its way out of the mother's womb, eating her alive... to tell someone not to feel anything about that would be impossible.
"It's fine... What Jaya was doing in Mejougo, and the fact that Reblurina's upper echelons were involved — none of it can ever be forgiven. I can't do anything about it right now, but... the injustice we feel, Rei and his group will do something about it."
As if telling herself that, Sura then began discussing the watch rotation with the man.
"Haaahhh!"
With a spirited shout, Vihera kicked off the ground and closed the distance to Rei.
In the morning sunlight, the thin garment Vihera wore revealed her graceful curves... but before a sight that would have captivated any ordinary man, Rei focused solely on Vihera's movements as she approached.
A fist flying straight toward him.
Its speed was such that an ordinary person would never be able to track it.
But Rei evaded that strike by leaping backward.
No matter how fast the fist, it was still a fist.
It couldn't extend further than Vihera's arm.
(Well, I've heard there are people in the world who intentionally dislocate their own joints to extend their reach, though.)
Thinking that, Rei stepped forward toward Vihera, whose strike had missed.
Kicking off the ground, Rei closed the gap in an instant.
It was too far off to call a counter... but if that blow had landed, Vihera certainly wouldn't have escaped unscathed.
"Whoa."
...That is, if it had landed.
Rei's swung fist was caught by Vihera's left hand.
The impact left Vihera's hand somewhat numb, but ultimately, that was all it was.
Because both of them knew this was training.
Vihera had taken off her Hand Gauntlets and Foot Guards, and Rei wasn't holding his Death Scythe or Twilight Spear.
For the two of them, it might have been closer to a form of play rather than training.
Of course, that was only how the two of them felt; whether those watching would feel the same was another question entirely — and the answer was no.
"W-what... what is that..."
The one who muttered in disbelief was a woman who had woken up just minutes before.
She had been sleeping on the grassland, and since her sleep happened to be light, she woke up somewhat earlier than the others.
What she saw was Rei and Vihera sparring.
As the first thing to see in the morning, it was highly stimulating.
She knew that Rei and his group were strong. She had seen it with her own eyes.
Even so... or perhaps because of that, seeing them fight like this confirmed to her that yesterday's battle hadn't been a dream.
Naturally, others besides the first woman to notice would also become aware of such an intense mock battle once it got underway.
"Hey, what's all this commotion... huh?"
"Look at that. Can a human really move like that?"
"...If bandits had attacked thinking we were easy prey, they would've been in for a pretty miserable time."
Those who woke up and watched the mock battle each voiced what they felt.
Had Rei heard them, he would have recalled the word "flag." And then...
"Yeehaw! Look at this, brother! Women, women, women! A whole group of women! For us, this is the perfect catch! Seriously, what's all this 'Jaya' nonsense. Like they could do anything to us!"
"Heheheh. You got that right, brother... But seeing this many fine women gathered together, we really are lucky. After we have our fun, we can sell them off as slaves..."
It was past noon, and what appeared before Rei's group — who had been irritated by the somewhat weaker sunlight compared to yesterday — was a group of about twenty bandits.
Two men, presumably leading the bandits, shouted from the bottom of their hearts as they looked at Rei's group, laughing.
To the bandits, Rei's group probably seemed like the perfect prey.
"...Hey, Ryutas. It was like that when I first met you too, but did Jaya actually not have that tight a grip on the bandits?"
"That's a painful thing to be asked. Once word of the Mejougo incident spreads, Jaya's name will lose its pull, and guys like that will probably increase... but it's still too early. So it must be a coincidence."
Ryutas replied to Rei with an expression that was hard to read.
As someone who had been part of Jaya until just a few days ago, he likely had complicated feelings about the current situation.
"Hey, you lot! What are you talking about! Do you understand the situation you're in?"
"That's right! You're about to meet your end as our prey!"
The two men leading the bandits each made their declarations.
But facing them, Rei spoke with evident exasperation.
"First of all, there are only about twenty of you, right? How exactly do you plan to take on this many people with those numbers?"
"Hah, most of 'em are women, aren't they? Right, brother?"
"Yeah, that's right. With this many..."
One of the men leading the bandits stopped mid-sentence.
The reason was Set, who had emerged from among the women.
At first, many had been afraid of Set's size and the fact that he was a Gryphon — an A-Rank monster — but after walking together for so long, some women had begun wanting to interact with him.
Set would also purr happily and grow affectionate toward anyone willing to give him attention.
...Once that happened, the rest was quick.
More and more women started doting on Set, and many found relief from the fatigue of walking in his adorable presence.
For that reason, Set had been walking freely among the group rather than staying in one place... and when the group came to a halt, he must have been curious. That was why he came forward like this.
The timing — right in the middle of one of the two bandit leaders' speech — could be called the worst possible timing for the bandits.
"Gurururu?"
Set emerged suddenly, and seeing the bandits' frightened expressions out of the corner of his eye, he purred as if asking, What's wrong?
Rei stroked Set and spoke with a smile.
"These guys are bandits, and apparently they're trying to attack us."
"Guru?"
Set tilted his head at Rei's words, as if asking, Seriously?
But the bandits who saw Set couldn't react at all to his demeanor.
Naturally. Who would ever expect to encounter a high-rank monster like a Gryphon in a place like this?
The bandits, who couldn't gauge the difference in strength from looking at Rei's group alone, were now faced with an entirely different story with the appearance of a Gryphon.
"U-Uwaaaaaaaaaagh!"
The first to scream and flee was one of the two men leading the bandits.
His partner chased after him, and the other fled as well.
With the two who had been leading them running away, it was only natural that the rest of the bandits would scatter too.
"What should we do?"
"Hmm... let's just leave them for now. No harm was done to us, and we can't exactly show them people being killed in broad daylight."
Rei gave that reply to Elena, who had asked.
In terms of people dying, they had already seen it up close during the battle to escape Mejougo, but even so, Rei understood well that killing people wasn't something the average person could easily accept.
If they were adventurers or the like, that would be one thing, but nearly everyone here was an ordinary civilian who had been forcibly brought in by Jaya.
If so, there were probably more than a few who would feel revulsion at the act of killing.
...At the same time, based on the conversation he had just overheard, those bandits had only recently arrived in this area. So even if they were captured and made to reveal their hideout, there most likely wouldn't be any treasure to speak of.