"......For supposed treasure, there were hardly any Magic Items."
On the ship's deck, Rei called out to the man before him—the Boss of the pirate crew.
The reason Rei's field of vision was filled with the back of the man's head and his back was simply because the man had his back turned to Rei.
Naturally, however, it was not as though Rei was letting him face forward without doing anything.
Rei held Death Scythe in his hand, its blade pressed against the underside of the man's chin from behind—a position where, if Rei moved his hand even slightly, the man's neck would be severed without a doubt.
In such a situation, having Rei behind him voice his dissatisfaction, the man naturally did not feel as though he were alive.
In truth, the man's knees were trembling, his face twitching as he somehow endured the terror.
He was certain that if he moved his body significantly for any reason, his head would effortlessly fly off.
......Before boarding the ship, Rei had poured magical power into Death Scythe as a demonstration, effortlessly cleaving a boulder larger than a person clean in half. Seeing that, it was only natural to think so.
Since he could hardly believe his own neck was harder than a rock, the man had no choice but to trust his subordinates' piloting to keep the ship from rocking.
"In the end, the biggest haul this time was those Magic Items that generate a Smoke Screen."
Rei's dissatisfaction boiled down to the simple fact that he had scarcely obtained any Magic Items.
Had these been ordinary pirates, he would not have expected as much.
But in this case, the very man Rei had Death Scythe pressed against had attempted to use a Magic Item.
In other words, perhaps not quite daily, but still with some frequency, they likely used Magic Items.
Driven by that expectation, Rei had searched the places where the pirates had hidden their treasure, only to find ordinary valuables—a large quantity of silver coins, a fair amount of gold coins, some platinum coins. The rest was mostly jewelry and gemstones.
As for something slightly unusual, there was an item that could be called a treasure sword, but it was not a Magic Sword—merely an ornamental longsword with jewels embedded in its sheath and hilt.
It might have held some value as a work of art, but it was by no means something that could be used practically.
And the Magic Items, too, were not the sort Rei wanted—things like a Magic Item for producing light or one that generated wind, albeit only enough to disperse odors.
For that reason, Rei had been unable to acquire the kind of Magic Items he had hoped for and was left dissatisfied.
(Then again, it's possible they hid the usable Magic Items somewhere else.)
He did consider that possibility, but given the man's interaction with his crew, would they really risk their own and their subordinates' lives to protect Magic Items? When he thought about it that way, it seemed highly unlikely.
If these had been ordinary—truly selfish—bandits, the possibility would not have been zero, but the man before Rei was a pirate who cared for his subordinates.
Given that, Rei could hardly imagine him pulling such a stunt in this situation.
Since it was already decided they would be sold into slavery, risking his own and his subordinates' lives with such dangerous behavior would be nothing short of a foolish move.
......Of course, it was not entirely impossible that the man was acting convincingly enough to deceive Rei, but from what Rei could see, that did not seem to be the case.
"Grrurururu!"
At that sound, Set let out a cry as he approached the ship.
But it was not just Set approaching. A single figure was clinging to his forelegs.
Upon reaching the deck, the figure released their hands from Set's legs and landed on the deck.
The appearance of that person inevitably drew the gazes of every pirate on deck.
The man with Death Scythe's blade pressed against his neck was no exception.
The woman who had appeared on the deck commanded that strong an impression on her surroundings.
"Rei, weren't you going to buy fishing gear and fish? Set suddenly came to pick me up, so I wondered what was going on."
Even as she voiced complaints, the woman's eyes laughed as if to say it looked like Rei was doing something entertaining.
"So it's Vihera. Where are the others?"
"Bistol and Byune are still fishing, but Elena and Marina came along with me. ......Since we didn't have the Set Basket, they grabbed onto Set's legs like I did."
"Yeah, my bad. I should have had him bring the Set Basket."
It was not as though the Set Basket was unusable without Rei present.
Normally it was stored inside the Misty Ring, so it was true that Rei had to take it out for them to use it, but.
At any rate, since he had sent Set off from the island carrying a message, if he had also had him bring the Set Basket at that time, Elena and the others could have come with no issue at all.
"That's true. You'd better apologize later. ......So? Who's the one in front of you?"
"Yeah. The one leading these pirates."
"Hmm. ......For you, that's a pretty lenient response, isn't it?"
At those words, the pirates who had been staring in fascination at Vihera, mistaking her for a prostitute or a dancer, instinctively shouted inwardly, "Where's the leniency in this?!"
But in truth, compared to what Rei had done to bandits in the past, his response could be called extremely gentle.
If this pirate crew had been cruel and ruthless—similar to the bandit group called the Immaculate White that Rei had massacred near Sablusta—he would not have bothered with something as leisurely as selling them into slavery; every one of them would have been killed by Rei's own hand.
......Of course, since these pirates had not witnessed Rei taking such actions, they all voiced their internal retorts to Vihera's words.
"So? If you've already captured them, why did you call us? Or are there still pirates you haven't caught?"
"No, that's not it. Though it's true there are still pirates we haven't caught."
In the end, Rei had not captured every pirate on that island.
To be precise, he probably could have caught them all if he had tried.
But he felt it was not worth the effort, so he had simply left them behind on the island.
With no ships and surrounded by a sea full of monsters, swimming to the mainland would be difficult.
It had become a situation close to being marooned, but he judged that as long as they were living on that island alone, there was no immediate problem.
The pirates Rei had captured also figured that becoming slaves—or worse, being executed—made it better to stay on the island and live there, and so they said nothing more.
(Well, there's a chance they could build a ship on their own and escape the island... but with something like a raft, they'd be attacked by monsters and killed in no time.)
Thinking that, Rei turned his gaze toward the pirates carrying out various tasks on the deck.
Rei could understand the pirates' motives, but since he was not particularly strapped for money, honestly, going to the trouble was too much of a hassle. That was the truth of it.
"So then, why?"
"Even if we're just leaving these pirates at that fishing village, we need combat power in case of emergency, right? I also need to go to a nearby town and bring back the person in charge to take custody of them."
At Rei's words, Vihera glanced at the pirates.
Misunderstanding something, several of the pirates who received Vihera's gaze happily waved at her.
In reality, she was only checking whether any of the pirates would be entertaining to fight if they rioted.
(There are definitely guys completely misunderstanding the situation.)
Watching Vihera's actions, Rei felt something almost like pity for the pirates as he shifted his gaze from them to the man he had Death Scythe's blade pressed against.
Even during their exchange, the man had not made any flashy movements, and his neck remained firmly attached to his body.
Waves caused the ship to rock, but Rei adjusted for that, maintaining the blade of Death Scythe at a distance where it just barely touched—or did not touch—the man's neck.
......The pirates did not understand that what Rei was doing so casually was in fact only possible through extraordinary skill and physical ability.
Nor did the man with Death Scythe's blade pressed against him comprehend just how high a level of skill was being employed.
All he understood was that a woman named Vihera—one more suited to moonlight than sunlight—had arrived.
And that the likelihood of him surviving had grown even smaller.
Of course, he had never truly believed he could escape from Rei.
But...... there was a real chance, however slim, that the possibility of escape had not been absolute zero.
Yet with Vihera's arrival, that possibility had grown even slimmer.
(Not to mention......)
Without moving his face, the man shifted only his eyes to look across the side of the ship.
There, Gryphon Seto was flying slowly, flapping his wings.
(I didn't know they could fly this slowly. ......Honestly, why would an adventurer with a gryphon as a Tamed Monster be in a place like this countryside?)
Yes, under normal circumstances, an alias holder adventurer coming to such a rural area was unthinkable.
In fact, it was precisely for that reason the men had chosen that uninhabited island as their base.
But...... as a result, the one who showed up was Rei.
For the man, it was nothing short of the worst possible outcome.
"What is it? It looks like you're watching Set. Is something on your mind?"
"No, nothing. I just never expected to see a gryphon this close up. I was merely surprised."
"......Well, that's fair enough."
Rei could not believe everything the man said was the truth.
But he also understood from experience that being captivated by the sight of Set was not uncommon.
And he judged that even if the man tried something in this situation, it would end in futility.
Given that, there was no need to press the man here and now, and......
"Rei, it's coming into view."
At Vihera's words, Rei turned his gaze toward the shore.
Just as Vihera had said, the village was already close enough to see.
And near the water's edge, several villagers were visible.
Perhaps, alarmed by a ship suddenly approaching and fearing another pirate raid, the villagers had gathered.
Thinking that, Rei turned his gaze back to Set.
"Set, go tell Elena and the others that everything here is sorted out. ......Well, even without telling them, it'll be obvious once you fly from the ship toward them."
"Gruu? Grrururu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry and flew off toward the village.
Watching Set go, Rei then opened his mouth to address the man he had Death Scythe pressed against.
"Now then, I'm going to have you all go to that village...... but you can manage the trip by small boat, right?"
This ship also had a small boat prepared for navigating shallow waters.
Rei had already confirmed that, so he was not worried about it.
What worried him was whether the pirates, with their hands and feet bound, could safely operate that small boat and reach the village without capsizing.
Under normal circumstances, it might have been manageable, but right now many of the pirates had their hands or feet tied.
But the man, rather than showing concern, even flashed a confident smile as he spoke.
"That won't be a problem. We're skilled sailors."
"......I see."
If they were that confident in their skills, shouldn't they have been doing trade or fishing instead of turning pirate?
Rei thought that, but given they had already been captured, there was no point saying anything now.
(At the very least, if they hadn't been threatening that village, there might have been a way to work something out.)
Rei pitied the man's poor timing as he looked at him, but the fact remained that if the pirates had never made contact with that village, Rei would never have undertaken the pirate subjugation in the first place.
Given that, all he could conclude was that the pirates had genuinely terrible luck.
"For now, I understand you can make it to that village safely. The rest is after you arrive. ......I'm praying you meet a kind slave trader."
At Rei's words, the man's face twisted into an expression as if he had bitten into a thoroughly bitter bug.