Once the decision was made, Rei moved quickly.
Well, given that he didn't really need any preparation to speak of, that was only natural.
Since most of his equipment was stored in his Misty Ring, there was no need to go back and retrieve anything.
There was a part of him that thought he should probably let Elena and the others know about the pirate subjugation, but given the expectant looks from the villagers and the fact that dealing with the pirates shouldn't take that long, he decided that reporting to them during dinner tonight would be fine.
"Besides, these are pirates out in the middle of nowhere. There's no way their combat power is all that impressive."
"Guru?"
At Rei's words, Set turned his head backward as if asking what was wrong.
Rei stroked his back to say it was nothing, and before long, their destination island came into view below.
It had been a few minutes since taking off from the village—though that speed was only possible because it was Set. Traveling by ship would have taken a proportionate amount of time.
"Hmm... from what I can see from up here, there seem to be a fair number of them."
On the opposite side from the village, a simple—truly simple—harbor had been constructed.
It was probably built using trees growing on the island, but even a makeshift harbor required a considerable amount of effort.
The fact that the pirates on the island had managed it meant there was no doubt they had a corresponding number of people.
Above all, there were two ships docked at the makeshift harbor, so it was safe to assume they were a pirate group of considerable scale.
Well, both look like quite old models, though.
Even from the sky, the decks of the ships showed marks of repair in multiple places.
The sails were currently folded, so he couldn't tell their condition, but judging by the decks, it was highly likely they had been repeatedly patched up as well.
That itself wasn't a problem. It wasn't, but... one of the main reasons Rei wanted to defeat these pirates was to get his hands on their ships.
Once the expansion construction currently underway in Gilm was finished, the next thing Gilm would undertake was research into making ships capable of traveling on the ground.
The base for that would be the Sand Ship, but at the same time, Gilm didn't have many people with the know-how for building ships.
It wasn't that there were none at all, but it was certainly true that they were very few.
For that reason, even to convert the Sand Ship into a land ship, a practice vessel for studying ships would be essential.
Rei's plan was to use the ships seized from the pirates as that practice vessel.
Since they would ultimately be used to death as practice ships, old ships would be fine, but honestly, he would have preferred ships that, if not brand new, were at least a bit more solid.
No, having practice ships at all is better than nothing. Besides, if the ships were too new, I'd need to get a correspondingly high price when having Lord Daskar buy them. ...Thinking about it that way, maybe it's actually better that they're worn out?
Rei had been thinking while observing the ships, but when Set turned back and asked what they were doing, he snapped back to attention.
"Right. Alright then, let's attack. First... Set, can you guard the ships so they can't escape by sea? If there's anyone on the ships, capture them by attacking them without killing."
"Guru!"
At Rei's words, Set rumbled in acknowledgment.
After stroking Set, Rei asked him to descend.
"Let's do this flashy. Otherwise, finding and taking down the pirates one by one would be a hassle."
"Guru! Gurururururururuu!"
Following Rei's words, Set let out a cry that seemed to echo across the entire island as it descended toward the ground.
Naturally, upon hearing such a cry from overhead, the pirates noticed Set's presence.
From huts built in a spot hidden from outside view—or perhaps they should be called shacks—several men came out.
The huts were built in locations invisible from the outside of the island, but they clearly hadn't accounted for flying beings like Set. From Rei's vantage on Set's back, everything was in full view.
"Alright, I'm counting on you with the ships, Set."
"Guru!"
Rei lightly patted Set's back as a way of saying he was counting on him, and then leaped off.
Set was still descending, at an altitude of about fifty meters above the ground.
Normally, falling from this height would mean certain death.
However, for Rei, that wasn't the case.
He activated his Sleipnir boots, kicking the air itself several times mid-fall to kill his momentum.
And where he landed...
"Gwaaaah! Y-you! Where the hell did you come from!"
...was right in front of the pirates who had come out of their huts.
The pirate closest to Rei was startled by the sudden appearance of a stranger, but given the situation, he apparently recognized Rei as an enemy.
He immediately grabbed a weapon, and rather than asking who Rei was, attacked first.
That was a natural reaction for a pirate.
Especially since this happened right after Set's cry, there was no way they could mistake him for an ally.
"Whoa."
A blow came swinging at Rei—not from a battle axe or anything similar, but from the kind of axe a woodcutter would use. But as a reflexive strike, it lacked any kind of sharpness, and there was no way it would hit Rei.
Easily dodging the axe strike, Rei swung the Twilight Spear sideways.
"Guh!"
Rather than slashing with the blade, it was a strike that bludgeoned with the shaft.
Under normal circumstances, they might have been able to block it, but the one delivering the blow was Rei.
There was no way these country pirates could block it.
The pirate struck by Rei's blow was sent flying sideways with the full momentum of the hit, only stopping when he crashed into a comrade's body.
If no comrade had been there, he would have flown through the air for several meters and tumbled across the ground.
In that sense, the pirate who took Rei's attack might have been somewhat fortunate. Though being attacked by Rei in the first place meant he couldn't really be called fortunate.
"Huh!?"
At the sight of their comrade being sent flying, the other pirates who witnessed it could only stare in blank amazement.
The man who had been sent flying wasn't particularly outstanding among these pirates.
But he wasn't weak, either.
As pirates, they were reasonably accustomed to violence.
For such a man to be sent flying by someone as small as Rei, the other pirates could only stare in disbelief.
A few of them wondered if maybe he had intentionally made it look like he was sent flying, but judging by the comrade lying on the ground, that was clearly not the case.
"What's wrong? You just going to watch? Unfortunately, I don't have much time. Come at me and get beaten down already."
Provocative words slipped from Rei's mouth.
No, they weren't just provocative-sounding words—they were words meant to provoke.
Words meant to anger the enemy and prevent them from running away.
What was troublesome for Rei was not them charging at him, but them escaping from here.
This uninhabited island was reasonably large, and there were plenty of places for people to hide.
If the pirates scattered in all directions, finding them would take time.
The reason he said it would take effort rather than being impossible or difficult to find them here was precisely because he had Set.
With Set's senses, finding the pirates no matter where they hid wouldn't be that difficult.
Though the fact that it would still take time and be annoying was also an undeniable truth.
Regardless, Rei's provocation succeeded admirably in sending blood rushing to the pirates' heads.
Axes and clubs... there were even some who, unable to find anything that could serve as a weapon, came at him with bare fists.
Of course, not all of them had only makeshift weapons. Some had their proper weapons that they used when raiding other ships and villages.
However, attacking with nothing but numbers and zero coordination was nothing but a mistake.
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
"Do you really think you can do anything to me with attacks like that?"
Dodging a club strike, Rei struck out with the shaft of the Death Scythe.
It was a blow where he held back as much as possible to avoid breaking bones, but it still had more than enough power to send a pirate flying.
The pirate who was sent flying crashed into a comrade just like the first one, finally stopping his momentum.
The other pirates charged at Rei as well, but they were beaten down one after another without managing to land so much as a scratch on him.
And so, less than a few minutes after Rei landed on the island, all the pirates had lost consciousness and collapsed.
"...Right."
Glancing at the unconscious pirates, Rei pulled rope from his Misty Ring.
He then bound the hands and feet of each unconscious pirate one after another, tying them to nearby trees so they couldn't escape.
That the pirates remained unconscious even after all that spoke to how devastating Rei's strikes had been.
After finishing tying them up, Rei looked up at the sky as if to say he'd made a mistake.
Summer was nearing its end, but perhaps because they were by the sea, a summery blue sky stretched out above.
"No, whether we're by the sea or not has nothing to do with it. Mentally, it feels pretty relevant, though."
Muttering, he shifted his gaze from the sky to the bound pirates.
What lay in Rei's gaze was mostly a feeling of annoyance.
He had felt the same thing when subjugating the bandits around Sablusta—tying them up took more time than defeating them.
Of course, having learned binding methods that prevented Rope Escape from that experience, and his tying speed having improved, was something he wasn't sure whether to be pleased about or not.
"Anyway, on to the next. First..."
Rei's gaze was directed toward the huts the pirates had come rushing out of.
Even after making all that noise fighting outside, there was no sign of anyone coming out of the huts.
Given that, there was probably no one else inside, and from what he could sense, that was certain.
However, there might be someone capable of suppressing their presence, or there could be some kind of treasure inside—not a zero possibility.
Though the probability was quite low, just in case, he went about checking inside the huts.
But inside, there was nothing but alcohol, dried meat, and dried fish—nothing of any particular note.
Even Rei couldn't bring himself to steal half-drunk alcohol or half-eaten dried meat and dried fish from pirates, so he peeked into the huts one after another.
"I thought there might be at least one prisoner."
Among the bandits around Sablusta, there had been some who captured their targets alive rather than killing them.
For ransom, to sell as slaves, to take out their frustrations on, to satisfy their lust... for various reasons, those prisoners had been convenient commodities.
That was why Rei thought it wouldn't be strange for there to be similar prisoners on this island that served as the pirates' hideout, but... fortunately, or unfortunately, there were no prisoners anywhere.
Deciding to ask about it later once the pirates woke up, he went searching for those that were likely still elsewhere on the island.
When he had looked from the sky above, the only place with huts had been where he had just landed, but thinking about it, it was currently daytime.
Normally, they would definitely be doing some kind of work. Rather, being inside the huts at this hour would be the unusual thing.
"Well, actually, from what I saw from above, there were quite a few moving around the island. ...So, where should I head next?"
What would those working on the island do when they heard Set's cry from the sky?
Thinking about that...
"Hey, what's wrong with you guys!?"
When such a voice was heard from a distance—from where the pirates had been tied to the trees earlier—Rei muttered, "Figures."
If they judged Set's cry as a monster attack or something, it was natural that they would try to return to their base first.
Thinking of it as their base, some might have gone to the ships, being pirates and all... but if so, that's their misfortune.
From what Rei had experienced fighting them, while their appearance was one thing, these pirates weren't particularly strong in terms of actual ability.
In fact, there had been more skilled fighters among the bandits around Sablusta than these pirates.
Judging that such people had no chance of getting onto the ships guarded by Set... Rei headed toward the source of the voice to knock out the newly gathered pirates.