"Hmm... it should be around here, right?"
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set purred as if to say, That's right.
Rei and his party were currently waiting at a spot slightly off the main road, marked by a somewhat large boulder. They had agreed to rendezvous here after taking down a bandit group.
Originally, they had wanted to keep operating separately the entire time. But when it came to recovering captured bandits and the treasure those groups had hoarded, Elena's Magic Pouch or Marina's Spirit Magic wasn't always enough. In those cases, they needed Rei's Misty Ring to store everything.
The Magic Pouch, a degraded version of the Item Box, had a fixed capacity—unlike Rei's Misty Ring. Given that limitation, entrusting its contents to Rei was the most efficient way to make use of the Magic Pouch.
"Ah, there you are. Rei!"
At the sound of that voice, Rei turned to see Vihera emerging from the forest a short distance away. Then, as if chasing after her, Byune and Marina appeared... and behind Marina came a line of bandits, their wrists bound with water conjured by Water Spirit Magic in place of rope.
"...That's a lot."
There were around twenty bandits bound by Spirit Magic. From that number alone, it wasn't hard to guess that they had probably captured nearly all—or possibly all—of the bandits they had encountered.
As for Rei, the number of bandits he had taken prisoner was zero.
Every last member of the Immaculate White had been killed, their corpses burned to ashes to prevent them from rising as Undead. The treasure stashed inside their cave had naturally been recovered in full, but even so, Rei's fury at the bandits—whose deeds were the exact opposite of their name—had not completely subsided.
"Oh, it's just you and Set? Where are the bandits?"
"They were scum with no value in keeping alive, so I incinerated them."
"Ah... I see."
From Rei's expression alone, it was easy enough to imagine what kind of bandits they had been—and that he was in a rather foul mood. Judging that pressing the topic further would do neither Rei nor herself any favors, Vihera changed the subject.
"Come to think of it, Elena and the others are running late. They really should be back by now."
Though her words carried concern, her tone remained unworried. She understood perfectly well that Elena could never lose to mere bandits. In fact, if someone told her that bandits had defeated Elena—the woman who had inherited the Ancient Dragon's Magic Stone—she would have been as astonished as if the sky and earth had traded places.
"True. It's probably because the treasure they hoarded was more than expected, or something along those lines. Or maybe there were more bandits than anticipated and it's taking time to tie them all up."
Defeating bandits was one thing, but binding the captives was expected to take a fair amount of time.
"So, the people we're supposed to hand these bandits over to still haven't shown up?"
"...Now that you mention it, they are late. They really should be here by now."
The sun already hung directly overhead. Rei pulled a clock from his Misty Ring to check—it was shortly past noon. Since the agreed time had been noon, this technically counted as being late.
Of course, in this world, clock owners were the minority. Most people judged the time by bells that rang every three hours. Given that, a slight deviation from the appointed time wasn't all that unusual.
But the people receiving the bandits this time had been formally commissioned by Gilm, and among those meeting them were some who knew Rei and his party would be here. Would they really risk displeasing Rei's group under such circumstances? Absolutely not.
When it came to working in Gilm, just how terrifying it would be to make an enemy of Rei—or more accurately, his Tamed Monster Set—went without saying.
While they talked, Marina arrived at Rei's position with the bandits in tow. Unable to escape thanks to Marina's Spirit Magic, the captives caught sight of Set beside Rei and fixed the griffon with stares of sheer astonishment and terror.
They had finally realized, in the most unmistakable way possible, who they had made an enemy of. Believing that a single sound might get them killed on the spot, they stayed dead silent—terrified of drawing Rei's attention.
Nearby, Rei was telling Marina about the Immaculate White. The bandits Marina had captured already understood what kind of atrocities that group had committed. For this bandit group, who had tried to avoid killing whenever possible, being associated with the Immaculate White was the last thing they wanted. Even while cowering before Rei's party, a few of the captives even cast looks of gratitude toward them.
"Hm? That's... ah, a separate group."
Puzzled by the bandits' gazes but otherwise unbothered, Rei spotted a group of adventurers approaching with bound captives of their own. There was no doubt these were also adventurers who had come from Gilm at Daskar's request. In fact, Rei recognized a few faces he had seen at the Guild. Spotting Rei's group in return, they raised their hands in casual greeting.
"Looks like you had a big haul."
The Adventurer Man smiled broadly at Rei's remark. Naturally—the treasure the bandits had hoarded would become their reward, and after interrogation, the captives themselves would be sold to slave merchants for additional profit. It went without saying that even someone other than Rei would find bandit hunting appealing. Of course, that was strictly limited to those with a certain level of strength.
Among the bandits near Sablusta in particular, former adventurers were not uncommon. Since such foes attacked in groups, one needed the power to handle them before bandit hunting was even an option.
"You too," the Adventurer Man replied, eyeing the bandits bound by Marina's Spirit Magic. But Rei shook his head.
"Not really. Those were captured by Marina, Vihera, and Byune. I was operating separately."
The Adventurer Man was momentarily surprised that Rei had split his party to deal with the bandits, but quickly accepted it as only natural for someone of his caliber. Then another question came to him.
"So, the bandits you captured?"
"There aren't any."
"...Huh?"
The adventurer stared at him, clearly baffled. Recalling the Immaculate White, Rei answered with a hint of renewed irritation.
"They were scum with no value in keeping alive. I disposed of all of them on the spot."
"Ah... right."
The word "scum" alone told him everything he needed to know about what kind of bandit group they had been. The Adventurer Man let the matter drop with a vague nod. If he ever encountered a group like that himself, he might kill a few, but he certainly wouldn't wipe them out entirely. No matter how despicable the opposition, selling them as slaves always fetched a respectable sum.
But that was his calculus, not Rei's. For someone like Rei, who had no financial worries, foregoing that kind of profit was of no concern. And since the adventurer hadn't suffered any loss from it himself, he had no intention of pressing the issue.
As Rei continued talking with the adventurers, more participants of the request emerged from the forest one after another. The vast majority had bound captives in tow, but among them were a few parties—or even individuals—who hadn't taken a single prisoner.
When Rei considered why that might be, he could only sigh at the simmering frustration in his chest.
Sure enough, some groups had brought along not just captured bandits but merchants and travelers the bandits had been holding captive. The reason was self-evident: they had been prisoners themselves. Men held for ransom. And women... not just for ransom, but as objects of desire.
In fact, among the women walking with the adventurers, some had unfocused, hollow stares, while others directed seething, murderous glares at the bound bandits. Several wore clearly ill-fitting borrowed clothes over their torn garments.
Rei was concerned about them, but for now, he prioritized exchanging information with the other adventurers.
(Normally, I'd leave this sort of thing to Marina.)
The reason Rei was the one handling the conversations was, unsurprisingly, because Marina had served as Guild Master until recently. Since this was a request issued in Gilm, those who accepted it were naturally adventurers from Gilm. And naturally, any adventurer from Gilm would know who Marina was.
Among them were some who had originally come for the Expansion Construction but had been selected for this mission because their skills were recognized. A few of these newcomers still knew almost nothing about Marina, and when she spoke to them, they replied with visible delight.
"Still, I knew there were bandits out here, but I never expected this many."
"Yeah. And there's no way this is all of them, either."
The adventurer who had been chatting with Rei muttered as he surveyed the bandits the other groups had rounded up. Rei nodded in agreement. The number of captives already exceeded one hundred, and with more adventurers still on their way, that figure could easily approach two hundred.
"But with this many bandits gathered in the area, why do you think Sablusta just let them be?"
"Who knows. Honestly, you're asking the wrong person. Though... I hear Sablusta isn't part of the Neutral Faction. Maybe they meant to obstruct Gilm's Expansion Construction."
"...Ugh. I absolutely do not want to get caught up in factional disputes."
Rei nodded in clear agreement with the adventurer's sentiment.
What the people ruling Sablusta were thinking was beyond Rei's understanding. But one thing was certain: making an enemy of Gilm—of Daskar—would never end well for them. Leaving bandits to roam unchecked around one's own city without subjugating them was tantamount to advertising that the noble in charge lacked the competence to govern.
Even if that noble wasn't ruling directly but had dispatched a Local Deputy to manage affairs. No—in that case, it would be even worse. They would be mocked as a noble who couldn't even judge a deputy's capabilities, who lacked the eye for people entirely.
To take such a risk for... what? From Rei's perspective, at least, it was nothing but foolishness.
Of course, the very fact that Gilm's adventurers were now conducting a large-scale subjugation of the bandits around Sablusta was already a devastating blow to the reputation of Sablusta's Local Deputy and the noble who had appointed him.
"Well, we just need to stay out of that mess and do the job we were hired for," another nearby adventurer said as he walked over.
"Even if we don't want to get involved, what if they come to us? ...Look."
Yet another adventurer, who had been listening in on the conversation, pointed toward Sablusta.
Coming from that direction were the figures of nearly thirty soldiers. They weren't outfitted for war, though—their equipment suggested they were Guards rather than a proper military force. Even so, nearly thirty armed men carried undeniable presence.
Every adventurer in the gathering had turned to watch the approaching column. And behind the soldiers came a carriage...
"Hey, that guy. Why is he with the soldiers?"
The adventurer who had been talking with Rei stared at the carriage's coachman and muttered, unable to help himself.
Thinking it might provide even a small clue, Rei asked, "You know him?"
"Know him? He's one of the adventurers hired to transport our captured bandits back to Gilm."
The words carried across the clearing. Certain that they had just been dragged into something troublesome, Rei looked up at the summer sky.