After returning from the bandit hideout, Rei received a few mild complaints, but that was the extent of it.
The reason was likely that treating the women captured by the illegal slave trader—and above all, the most severely injured Dark Elf—had taken a considerable amount of time.
After all, treatment for everyone had only finished just before Rei returned.
"So, what do we do now? We need to hand the surviving bandits over to the guards, and separately, we can't just leave those women out here, can we?"
The women at the receiving end of Rei's gaze looked fearfully at Reliu and the bandits.
...The fact that they did not direct such gazes at Rei was probably because, with his hood off, his face did not look manly at all.
His small build also played a role in this case.
That was why, as a result, the women who feared men did not feel much aversion toward Rei.
Being unrecognized as a man was something he should probably welcome given the current situation, but for Rei, it was not something he could celebrate by any means.
However, the fact that most of the women were not all that afraid of Set—simply because they did not find Rei frightening—was one of the few things he could feel happy about.
"We have no choice but to head to the nearest town, right? ...Is there a town nearby?"
Vihera asked Rei this because he was likely the only one who knew.
The others had been traveling inside the Set Basket, which meant Rei, riding on Set's back, was the most familiar with this area.
Considering that Rei had also ridden Set when he went to search for the bandit hideout, she likely reasoned that if there was a town nearby, it would not be strange for Rei to have found it.
But when asked, Rei shook his head in response to Vihera's words.
From what he had seen from the sky, he had confirmed there were no towns or villages in this area.
"Come to think of it, bandits wouldn't set up a hideout near a town or village to begin with."
"Is that so? Among the bandits I've defeated so far, there were some who kept their hideouts near towns or villages. Actually, if a town or village is nearby, it's easy to spot prey coming out of it."
Reliu made this remark in response to Elena's murmur.
In truth, that was not necessarily wrong.
If a hideout was right next to a town or village, finding merchant caravans, merchants, or even adventurers and travelers coming out from there was not difficult.
But... if it was easy for bandits to find such people, the reverse was also true—it would not be difficult for the townsfolk or villagers to discover the hideout.
It was truly a textbook example of high risk, high return.
If they were going to do something like that, it would only be for a short period of a few days at most.
"Well, from the perspective of someone subjugating them, it's easier if the hideout is near a town or village. ...But these guys are pretty cautious. I don't think they'd do something like that. ...Right?"
At Rei's question, the bandits hurriedly nodded.
For the bandits, Rei's existence could accurately be described as a nightmare.
He was the kind of opponent who would kill them with no more effort than mowing weeds—it would be impossible not to feel terror toward him.
They had come to understand the true meaning behind why he was feared and called the Bandit Eater.
"Then, where is the nearest town or village around here?"
"About half a day by carriage from here, there's a town called Delitoste!"
At one bandit's immediate shout, Rei nodded in understanding.
"In that case, why don't we head to this town called Delitoste for now? We need to decide what to do with those women too."
No one objected to those words, and they immediately began preparing to depart.
Even Reliu, who wanted to see his wife Schmine as soon as possible, did not bring it up in this situation and helped with the preparations.
"Kyah!"
One of the women let out a short scream because Reliu had single-handedly and effortlessly righted the overturned carriage.
At first glance, it did not seem like Reliu could possibly do such a thing, but the fact that he could accomplish it so easily was a true demonstration of his standing as an alias-holding High-Rank Adventurer.
The horse that had been pulling the carriage was largely uninjured and calm. ...Though the horse's calmness was likely because of Set's presence.
"Hey, Rei. What about this guy? He's an illegal slave trader, right? Do we just leave him here?"
"If we do that, there's a chance he could become Undead depending on the circumstances. For the sake of explaining things to the guards too, we should take the corpse with us. ...My job, I suppose."
Since they would be transporting the women in the carriage, they could not exactly put a corpse inside it. In the end, Rei stored it in his Misty Ring.
Honestly, Rei did not feel great about it either, but it was undeniably the best option.
With that done, Rei and his party burned the bandit corpses with magic to prevent them from becoming Undead and departed.
Since the horse was frightened, Rei and Set proceeded ahead of the carriage for the time being.
The surviving bandits were chained together with rope and forced to walk, dragged behind the carriage.
"If it's half a day by horse... we'll probably be staying overnight in this town called Delitoste."
"Grur?"
At Rei's words, Set looked back and purred curiously, as if asking, "Is that so?"
He probably thought that if they left immediately, they could cover more distance since it was only half a day.
Rei shared the same opinion. ...However, selling the bandits as slaves would require some paperwork, and there was also the matter of the illegal slave trader on top of that.
Explaining those circumstances, handing over the corpse... doing all of that would inevitably take time, and it would ultimately be evening, or possibly even night.
If that was the case, rather than forcing themselves to depart from Delitoste, staying one night there was a natural conclusion.
"Well, the food in Saumis wasn't that great, but in Delitoste we might be able to find some tasty food."
"Grururururururu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a happy cry.
...But despite being Set's cry, the horse pulling the carriage, which was some distance away, flinched for a moment.
Of course, it was only a moment, and almost no one noticed.
Among those who did notice was Reliu, sitting on the driver's seat.
Being the only man inside a carriage full of women would have been uncomfortable in various ways, and more importantly, he did not want to do anything strange and have his wife Schmine suspect him of cheating.
On the other hand, walking at the carriage's pace would be exhausting... and so, Reliu volunteered to serve as the carriage's coachman.
(When Rei and the others travel, they have the Set Basket, so it's fine. But wouldn't it be nice to have a carriage that Set could pull? Though, if it's just transporting luggage, Rei has his Item Box. I wonder what he thinks about that.)
If Set were to pull a carriage, naturally a specialized one would need to be made. ...But having something other than a horse pull a carriage was not that uncommon, so it wouldn't be that much trouble.
Whether Rei actually wanted one was another matter.
"Ah... I'm bored."
If the bandits being dragged behind the carriage by rope had heard Reliu's words, they would undoubtedly have expressed their outrage.
They were about to be sold into slavery, and he dared to say he was bored?
But it was fortunate that Reliu's muttered words on the driver's seat did not reach the surviving bandits being dragged behind the carriage, as it would have been a troublesome situation otherwise.
In any case, they continued on for several hours... proceeding along the highway while drawing the attention of merchants, travelers, and adventurers walking along the road.
They took a lunch break along the way, and as usual, Rei brought out food from his Misty Ring for their meal. The women who had been forcibly captured by the slave trader were surprised but delighted by this.
After all, a freshly made, warm meal was surely a source of vitality.
...However, the bandits remained bound and were left alone, given no food whatsoever.
If this were Earth, it would not be strange for it to be called abuse.
But this was not Earth.
Rather, in the current situation of escorting bandits, not giving them food was perfectly acceptable in order to prevent them from having the strength to resist or escape.
The bandits, shown the sight of freshly cooked food being eaten right in front of them, did try demanding that something be sent their way... but when Rei told them to shut up, they could say nothing more.
Even so, they were able to rest their bodies while Rei and the others ate, so this break was by no means a bad one for the bandits either.
And so, the break ended... and they resumed moving.
The bandits walked as if pulled along by the carriage's pace... and after several more hours, their destination came into view.
Compared to Golts or Saumis, it was clearly smaller.
But it was still a town in scale, which meant there was no particular problem for Rei and his party to take care of their business.
Of course, when it came to selling the bandits as slaves, moving to a larger town would undoubtedly fetch a higher price... but considering the travel distance, the difference in price was marginal to Rei.
If that was the case, it was definitely better to finish all the paperwork here even if the price was somewhat lower.
"Ah... well, of course this would happen."
It was only natural for a rural town, but seeing the guards recoil in shock and fear at the sight of Set, Rei muttered quietly.
Even so, the fact that they had not fled showed they were serious-minded guards, which he immediately understood.
"It's alright. Calm down. I think you can tell from the fact that I'm riding him, but he won't attack people on his own."
Strictly speaking, he would attack those who approached with hostility, but Rei told them this for now since calming them down was the priority.
At Rei's voice, the guards seemed to settle down somewhat. They looked squarely at Rei, confirmed that a person was indeed there, and lowered their spears in relief.
Perhaps because the shock of seeing Set had been so great, they were all the more relieved when they saw Rei's figure.
"I'm the adventurer Rei. This is my Tamed Monster, Set. We encountered bandits about half a day from here and annihilated them, so I'd like you to buy the survivors as slaves. Also, the bandits were attacking a carriage in a copse, and it turned out to belong to an illegal slave trader. We're protecting women who were brought from somewhere."
The words that came out of Rei's mouth were initially lost on the guards.
No, they understood, but it was all too sudden.
Nevertheless, they were guards.
Moreover, they were the kind of guards who, despite suddenly seeing Set, were surprised and frightened but did not run away.
They quickly came to their senses and began to make a commotion.
Then, after a few dozen seconds, several of them ran into the town.
They likely realized they could not make the judgment call themselves and went to fetch their superior.
For Rei, having them make a decision faster was better than being awkwardly deliberated over here, so he had no complaints about their action.
While they waited, the carriage driven by Reliu finally arrived.
Seeing the carriage... or rather, the bandits tied to the rear of it, the guards tightened their expressions.
They did not think an adventurer with a Gryphon as a Tamed Monster would lie about defeating bandits and bringing in those he had captured.
They didn't think so, but even so, seeing that sight directly before their eyes naturally warranted such a reaction.
...Then, one of the guards suddenly realized.
(Eh? Wait? An adventurer with a Gryphon as a Tamed Monster... could that be Crimson Rei?)
Until now, the suddenness of it all had prevented him from noticing, but of course, various rumors about Rei had reached this town as well.
Once he realized it, he felt true relief this time and quietly relayed the information to his comrades.
As a result, no major disturbance occurred before their superior arrived at the scene, and they were able to handle things calmly.
"Um, is this all of the bandits?"
"Yeah. These are all the survivors."
Rei replied casually to the guard's question.
Whatever they imagined from the phrase "survivors"... the guard let out a somewhat dry laugh.