In the end, Rei’s group allowed the bandits to flee without pursuit and resumed their journey.
Some of the women questioned whether it might have been better to kill the bandits rather than let them escape. But when Rei asked if they really wanted to watch people being slaughtered right in front of them, they naturally answered no.
A few even suggested killing them out of sight, but Rei and the others simply ignored those voices.
The woman who had been brushed off looked displeased and tried to complain further, but when told that anyone with objections was free to stop traveling with them, she had no choice but to fall silent. After all, she had no one else to rely on.
Though she continued to grumble, the truth was that without Rei’s group, they would be completely helpless in their current situation.
If they truly hated traveling with Rei and the others that much, they could have remained in Mejougo or parted ways after leaving the city. There had been plenty of options.
Yet since they had chosen to come along, disobeying Rei’s instructions was not an option.
Of course, if the order had been truly unacceptable, that would have been a different story.
“Nn… Summer sunsets really are spectacular.”
The vast grassland surrounding them had been dyed a deep crimson by the setting sun.
The temperature remained high, but Rei’s Dragon Robe kept him comfortable.
(Still… the others are starting to look quite worn out.)
If the sky had been overcast it might have been different, but there were almost no clouds. It was a vast, high, perfectly blue summer sky. Until just moments ago, the sun had blazed down as if declaring itself the ruler of the season.
The intense sunlight pouring from above mercilessly drained the stamina of everyone walking across the open plain.
(And we’ve been camping outdoors for several days straight now. …In a situation like this, no one can recover their strength properly, and then there are the insects.)
Rei did possess a bug-repelling Magic Item, but its effect only extended roughly two meters around him. It was nowhere near enough to protect nearly a thousand people.
As a result, many of the women—who were still wearing the revealing clothing typical of prostitutes—had ended up covered in mosquito bites after sleeping in the grasslands. And mosquitoes were hardly the only harmful insects around.
Fortunately, no one had yet become seriously ill, but it was only a matter of time before some did if things continued this way.
When asked whether Rei had any means to prevent that…
(Well, I do. But using it here would stand out far too much and attract unwanted attention.)
If he used the method he had in mind, Jaya and the Reblurina army would easily be able to pinpoint their location.
…Though with nearly a thousand people marching openly along the highway, it wouldn’t be surprising if they had already been spotted.
“What’s wrong?”
Noticing Rei’s troubled expression, Elena asked curiously.
For a moment he wondered if an enemy was nearby, but Elena’s senses detected no hostile presence.
When he glanced at Set, the griffon was simply staring at him with the same puzzled look as Elena.
Until recently Set had been walking among the women, enjoying their affection, but it seemed Rei was still his favorite. Right now the griffon walked close beside him.
Normally Set would be the first to notice any approaching threat, yet at the moment he showed no signs of having detected anything.
That being the case, it probably wasn’t an enemy. Elena spoke to Rei again.
“Rei, did something happen?”
“Ah… yeah. Well, it’s just that if we keep forcing everyone to sleep outdoors every night like this, it’s going to cause problems. It’s fine for now since there’s grassland beside the highway, but that won’t last forever.”
In fact, many stretches alongside the road were barren wasteland.
They were currently using the grass as makeshift bedding, but sleeping on bare ground like that would be nearly impossible.
Not only would their bodies get filthy, there was also the question of whether they could fall asleep at all.
“Hmm, so that’s what’s been bothering you. I’ve been thinking about the same issue. After all, we can’t possibly lodge this many people at a village or town inn.”
If their group numbered only a dozen or several dozen people, staying at inns would have been an option.
But with nearly a thousand people, that was simply impossible.
Moreover, since most of them had fled with only the clothes on their backs, the cost of lodging would also become a problem.
Rei could pay for them if necessary, and once everyone reached Gilm he could request reimbursement from Daskar as necessary expenses.
But the sheer number of people made that impractical.
“Yeah. In that case, the method I’m thinking of is the quickest solution… but it stands out. It stands out a lot. It would draw far too much attention. Do you think that’s acceptable?”
“Isn’t it already too late to worry about that? Traveling with this many people was always going to attract attention no matter what we did.”
“I know that. But if I use the method I have in mind, we’ll probably draw the attention of even more troublesome parties. Local power brokers might try to find fault with us or interfere in strange ways.”
And people like that tended to be overconfident. If things didn’t go their way, they often resorted to attacking Rei’s group.
Of course, if it were only Rei and his companions, no matter how many such people gathered it wouldn’t be a problem.
The problem was that it wasn’t just Rei and his companions.
Perfectly protecting nearly a thousand people was practically impossible.
“I think that depends on how we handle it… So, what exactly were you planning to do, Rei?”
At Elena’s lighthearted words, Rei nodded and replied.
“You remember me mentioning that there’s a Magic Item called the Sand Ship, right? As the name suggests, it can only move across sand, but that just means it can’t travel. It won’t collapse under its own weight just because it’s sitting on soil.”
Once he had said that much, even Elena understood what he was getting at. In other words…
“You intend to use that Sand Ship as sleeping quarters for everyone else?”
“Yeah. There aren’t enough individual rooms for everyone, but if we include the corridors and other open spaces, it should be possible for all of us to sleep inside… I think. Still, we’ll need to take measures to keep people away from the captain’s quarters so no one gets any strange ideas.”
With this many people, it was inevitable that some would harbor improper intentions.
Rei had heard the term “belief in the inherent goodness of man” back when he lived in Japan, but he had absolutely no reason to believe in such a thing.
“I see. In that case, shall we rest in the captain’s room? If there’s enough space to set up the Magic Tent, that would also work. Or we could have Set and Ielo stand guard instead.”
“Yeah. I’m not sure which we’ll go with yet, but we’ll need to take some kind of precautions.”
Rei accepted Marina’s suggestion and decided to use the Sand Ship as their lodging.
If they continued sleeping outdoors with only the clothes on their backs, it was almost certain that some would fall ill.
And if that happened, the group’s overall travel speed would suffer.
Of course, if anyone became unwell, he wouldn’t hesitate to let them ride in the carriages.
With that, their plans for the night were settled.
“Hey, why do you think we suddenly left the highway?”
“Even if you ask me, how would I know? Maybe they’re hunting for food?”
The sunset that had dyed everything in sight a deep red just a short while ago had now sunk halfway below the horizon.
At this hour, the fact that Rei’s group had suddenly deviated from the highway caused many to feel uneasy.
Even so, it didn’t develop into outright complaints—probably because after several days of traveling together since leaving Mejougo, many had come to trust Rei and the others.
Another major factor was that even among women proud of their own appearance, there were three women of such overwhelming beauty—Elena and her companions—that no one dared approach them.
They believed Rei and his party would never turn their attention toward ordinary women like themselves.
Harboring such doubts, the group continued walking away from the highway… and after about ten minutes, their steps came to a halt.
Rei then gathered the leaders of each squad of ten.
“I wonder what he’s planning. Even if we’re hunting, there’s no need for all of us to come along, is there?”
“Who knows. Since he brought us all the way out here, I’m sure there’s a reason.”
As such voices reached him, Rei finally spoke.
“I’m about to bring out a ship that you can all sleep in.”
“Huh?”
That was the honest reaction of everyone who heard those words.
Why would the word “ship” come up here, of all places?
(Well, if I heard something like that without any prior knowledge, I’d be confused too.)
Even Marina, who already knew about the Sand Ship, thought it was perfectly natural that the squad leaders would be confused if they only heard the explanation.
Still, the reason they didn’t immediately start making a fuss was probably because they had witnessed Rei’s power many times before.
Facing the squad leaders, Rei continued.
“As you all know, I’m an Item Box User. Inside my Item Box is a ship meant for traveling across deserts called the Sand Ship. Since it’s designed to move across sand, it can’t travel over the kind of ground we’re on right now. But even so, a ship is still a ship. There’s no doubt you’ll be able to sleep somewhere with a roof over your heads.”
Several of the squad leaders immediately understood the meaning behind Rei’s words about “sleeping somewhere with a roof” and let out joyful cheers.
In truth, sleeping on grass was undeniably harsh.
Most people were so exhausted from walking all day that they could still fall asleep.
However, among those who had originally come from the upper class—daughters of wealthy merchants or nobles—there were several who simply could not sleep at night no matter how tired they were.
Those people had relatively low stamina and walked slowly, so they had been riding in the carriages. But if their numbers continued to grow, the carriages would eventually run out of space.
For squad leaders responsible for such people, the prospect of being able to sleep inside a ship—even if it was a Sand Ship—was an enormous relief.
There was no risk of seasickness since it would be resting on solid ground.
For the current group, it was the perfect lodging they desperately needed.
“But if you had something like that, couldn’t you have brought it out earlier?”
Several people voiced that complaint, and others nodded in agreement.
Rei received their pointed stares but showed no particular concern and continued his explanation.
“As I said, the Sand Ship is large enough to hold nearly a thousand people. It’s so big there’s no way it wouldn’t stand out. The reason I didn’t bring it out until now is because we were being pursued by Jaya and the Mejougo forces, and I didn’t want to attract any more unnecessary enemies.”
“So you decided to bring out the Sand Ship today because we no longer need to worry about pursuers?”
At one squad leader’s question, Rei nodded.
“That’s right. We’ve been walking almost without rest until today, so we’ve put a fair distance between ourselves and both Mejougo and Rossi. I don’t think we’ll face any serious attacks anymore. Of course, that’s only my prediction. I can’t completely rule out the possibility of unexpected developments.”
Many people nodded in understanding at those words.
Of course, not everyone was convinced.
Some still suspected that Rei was planning something strange… or that there was a reason he couldn’t speak about.
But since they couldn’t voice those suspicions, Rei—who had vaguely noticed their attitudes—simply said nothing further.
“Anyway, let’s bring out the Sand Ship right away. I’ll say this in advance: there aren’t enough rooms for everyone. Decide on the sleeping arrangements without fighting. If any problems occur because of this, tomorrow night we’ll be sleeping on the grass again… or worse, on bare dirt.”
With that, he retrieved the Sand Ship from his Misty Ring.
After several seconds of silence, cheers erupted from the surroundings.