"Gurururururu!"
Spotting Rei appear at the harbor—a generous term for the modest jetty—Set let out a happy cry.
"Hey, Set. Looks like you managed to protect the ship just fine. The Pirates... well, as long as they aren't dead, I guess that's fine."
Glancing at the roughly twenty Pirates collapsed in a pile a short distance away, Rei turned back to look at those tethered to the rope he was pulling—the captured Pirates.
Their numbers were also around twenty.
These were Pirates he had found while searching suspicious areas across the island, in addition to the ones he had encountered at the spot where he first landed.
Still, even for old ships, forty or so people seemed somewhat short to crew two vessels.
Given the size of this island, there was a possibility Pirates were still hiding somewhere they hadn't found. But even if they stayed hidden, there was nothing they could do once the ships were gone.
The nearest village to this island was the one Rei had just visited, where he had been asked to subjugate the Pirates.
It was about ten minutes away by Set's wings.
Ten minutes by Set's wings meant a considerable amount of time if traveling on foot.
Moreover, if they tried to swim across the sea, the travel time would increase even further.
Swimming for such a long period would be difficult even for Pirates.
On top of that, the sea was home to not just fish but monsters as well.
Swimming through such waters would be nothing short of suicidal.
In other words, if Rei seized both ships here, the Pirates left on this island would be living a genuine castaway life on an uninhabited island.
He couldn't deny the possibility that they might have a boat or something left, and at worst they could build a raft to escape the island, but...
If they went that far, Rei judged there would be nothing more he could do.
"Wha—!? ...A-A Gryphon!?"
The man walking at the front of the Pirates being pulled by Rei's rope let out a cry of astonishment.
The appearance of a Gryphon in such a place was likely completely unexpected.
At those words, the other Pirates chained together wore expressions of disbelief.
Rei looked at them with a somewhat surprised expression.
"What, did you guys not realize who I was? I hear I'm pretty famous among Bandits, so I figured you Pirates would know too."
Muttering, Rei took out the Death Scythe from his Misty Ring once more.
"I figured if you saw this, you'd pretty quickly figure out who I am."
So said Rei, but the Pirates, looking at Set, seemed to finally understand who Rei was.
Many of them wore expressions of despair.
To drive the point home, Rei lightly swung the Death Scythe, displaying a slash that seemed to cleave through the very air itself, before speaking.
"I figure it'd be a shame if you didn't know who captured you, so I'll introduce myself just in case. I'm Rei. A B-Rank Adventurer with the alias Crimson. ...Bandits called me the Bandit Eater, so maybe you've heard that name more."
At the words Bandit Eater, several of the Pirates' faces twitched.
Those individuals likely possessed fairly detailed information.
Because of that, they despaired, knowing they had been targeted by someone who could only be called a messenger of destruction.
Even so, these Pirates could be considered lucky compared to Bandits of their ilk.
If they had been like the Bandits around Sablusta—especially the ones who called themselves the Immaculate White, who harmed their captives in various ways—they would never have been captured alive like this.
The reason there were no prisoners being held was because Rei had judged that taking hostages would only cause trouble. But the fact that this decision had allowed them to survive was truly fortunate.
"Now then, for starters..."
Muttering that much, Rei tied the rope he was holding to a nearby tree.
"Everyone here is all of you. Is that correct?"
At Rei's question, the Pirates looked at each other for a few seconds... and eventually nodded.
That's a lie.
From the Pirates' attitude, Rei half-intuitively judged that the claim of everyone being present was a lie.
In the first place, he had looked through the areas that seemed somewhat suspicious, but he hadn't completely searched every single one.
Given that, it wouldn't be strange for someone to still be hiding, or for someone to not have noticed Rei's presence.
The possibility that they didn't notice Set's initial cry was probably not likely.
It was highly unlikely that they hadn't heard that cry.
He said "probably" because there were people in the world with extremely high concentration, and such individuals might not notice even if you screamed in their ear. Things like that happened all the time.
He didn't think any Pirate who had set up a hideout in a place like this countryside possessed that kind of concentration, but there was a very slim, very real possibility that such a person existed.
"Let me make this clear. If you're saying everyone here is all of you, then anyone I find from here on out will be killed immediately as a suspicious person, Pirate or not. ...Are you sure you're fine with that?"
At Rei's words, several of the Pirates' faces twitched.
Seeing that, Rei became convinced his guess was correct. He took out the Death Scythe from his Misty Ring and swung it ostentatiously.
It was a large scythe that, normally, someone of Rei's small build would struggle to even hold.
But Rei wielded it with one hand, handling it as though it were a tree branch or something equally light.
It was a casual swing, but its speed and sharpness carried enough force to seem as though it cleaved through not just the air but space itself.
Knowing that Rei held the alias of Crimson and was called the Bandit Eater, the watching Pirates were naturally captivated by that strike.
They felt as though ice had been slid down their spines at the thought that the strike might have been swung at them.
"Just in case, I'll ask one more time for confirmation. ...Are you absolutely sure everyone here is all of you? If I find anyone else on this island after this, I'll cut them down as a suspicious person. Are you fine with that?"
He didn't ask with a serious, earnest expression. Rather, Rei asked the Pirates with a smile even floating on his face.
At those words, the Pirates fell silent.
They absolutely did not want to sell out their comrades who were still safe.
But if they didn't admit there were still comrades here, Rei would undoubtedly kill anyone he found as a suspicious person.
Anyone who had seen Rei's words and actions could easily imagine that, and for those who knew Rei was called the Bandit Eater, the fear was even greater.
Eventually... one of the Pirates who had been watching Rei opened his mouth.
"There are still... about ten people who aren't here."
Some of his comrades directed reproachful glances at the Pirate who had spoken, while others gave looks of resignation.
The Pirate who had received those glances must have decided there was no turning back once the words left his mouth. The pirate man directed a forceful gaze at Rei and spoke.
"I told you that not everyone here is all of us. So even if you find someone else, you won't kill them as a suspicious person, right?"
If he was lying about this, he would never be forgiven.
At the Pirate staring at him with such intensity, Rei thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
"Right. I can consider that much."
"...Consider? That's not what you said! Promise me!"
The pirate man, seemingly still in his twenties, shouted, criticizing Rei for not properly upholding what he had said.
But Rei, who was the target of that criticism, didn't seem to think he was being criticized. Rather, he was looking at the pirate man with a gaze of exasperation.
"Listen, think about what you guys have been doing up until now. Do you really think I can trust you that easily?"
When put that way, the Pirates recalled what they had done up to now and fell silent.
Among those here, there were few without dark pasts, so that was only natural.
Gauging the moment when the Pirates wore expressions filled with despair, Rei spoke again.
"That said, it seems you aren't all that vicious as Pirates go. So... let's see. If you tell me where you've hidden the treasure you've been hoarding somewhere on this island, I'll promise to capture anyone found alive as much as possible, as long as they don't resist needlessly and try to run."
Rei had looked through the shacks the Pirates lived in, but unfortunately, there was none of the treasure they should have hoarded.
In other words, the Pirates must have hidden their hoarded treasure somewhere on this island.
There was also the possibility they had actually hidden it on another island, but thinking someone might find it, they would probably want to keep it close to themselves.
As Rei looked at them with a gaze asking where their treasure was, the Pirates fell silent.
"Hmm, where is your Boss? Is he not among those captured?"
Noticing that there was no one with absolute authority among the Pirates who had been speaking, Rei asked, belatedly realizing this.
He had initially thought the one acting somewhat important was the Pirates' Boss, but watching them interact, he understood that apparently wasn't the case.
Because of that, Rei had asked thinking the Boss might not have been captured yet. But at those words, several of the Pirates changed their expressions.
"I see. It seems your Boss isn't among those captured. In that case, capturing the Boss takes priority... but what to do."
"H-Hold on! I'm the one leading these Pirates!"
The man Rei had thought was the somewhat important-looking Pirate shouted.
"Oh... so you're the Boss. ...For someone in that position, you don't seem to be very well-liked by your subordinates."
When leading Pirates, outlaws naturally required a certain amount of charisma from those at the top, as well as strength and other qualities.
The Pirate claiming to be the Boss appeared to have neither.
"That can't be. I'm fairly well-liked, appearances aside. It might not look that way, but..."
"...I see. Whether those words are good enough, I'll ask later. Right now, there's something I need to do before that. You should come to understand exactly what kind of opponent targeted you."
With those words, Rei left the Pirates with their cheeks twitching and headed toward the ships... but before that, noticing the unconscious Pirates near Set, he tied them up with rope as well before making his way to the ships again.
It wasn't a proper harbor, but one built with the mindset that as long as it was usable, that was good enough.
Walking along such a harbor, which would undoubtedly become unusable if a typhoon came, Rei approached the ships.
Both ships were quite old and weathered, but among the two, he approached the one that showed more signs of damage and repair.
The Pirates, not understanding what Rei was trying to do, watched his actions closely.
For the Pirates who knew almost nothing about Rei, it probably just looked like he was planning to search inside the ship.
Searching the ship—a ship search, should he call it?—was the reason they would come to know Rei? The Pirates looked puzzled, but Rei ignored their gazes and quietly reached out to the ship floating in the water.
Whether it was so he could board immediately, or whether the harbor had been built crudely and thus ended up this way, Rei didn't know.
But it was enough to know that if he reached out, he could touch the ship.
Rei's actions were completely incomprehensible to the Pirates.
What was he doing? What was he going to do? What was his intention?
Despite such gazes being directed at him, Rei stored the ship in his Misty Ring as it was.
In an instant... truly, in an instant, the ship vanished from the sea.
The Pirates who saw this could do nothing but stand dumbfounded, completely unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"Now then, the next one."
Leaving the dumbfounded Pirates as they were, Rei headed for the ship anchored a short distance away...
"H-Hold on, wait! What the—what did you just do!"
The voice of one of the Pirates causing a commotion reached him, but Rei paid it no mind as he arrived beneath the other ship, touched it... but in the next moment, he furrowed his brow.
"What do you mean, I can't store it?"