'……'
Silence.
At Rei's demand to surrender, the twenty or so bandits found themselves at a loss for words.
However, several of the bandits who recognized Rei were speechless for an entirely different reason than the rest.
"Pfft… kukuku, gyahahahaha! Hey, did you hear that? This guy's telling us to surrender!"
The bandit who had been talking with Rei let out a laugh he could no longer suppress, and the next moment, the rest of the bandits burst into laughter as well.
"Ahahahaha, you've gotta be kidding me! If this is a joke, it's not even funny—no, it's way too funny! What could you possibly be thinking to say something like that?"
"Hee, hee… ow… my stomach… my stomach hurts… okay, I get it. This guy's trying to make us laugh to death, huh?"
"Th-that's… yeah, you're right. Now that you mention it, that might actually be the strongest attack method out there."
Many of the bandits ridiculed Rei through their laughter.
To them, Rei looked like nothing more than a small child—a young man who clearly hadn't even reached twenty.
For someone like that to demand their surrender was nothing short of a joke.
Rei, however, was completely unbothered by their mockery.
The moment he stood here, the bandits' fate was sealed: death or slavery.
Criminal Slaves like these bandits had a certain demand in the market.
Not for purposes like decoration or escort, but for grueling labor—mining excavation or serving as meat shields in battle.
"I've given you a chance to surrender. It's your call. Though I'd recommend it if you want to spare yourselves some pain."
With that, Rei withdrew Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring.
"……Huh?"
The bandits who had been mocking him moments ago let out dumbfounded sounds as they stared at the two weapons in his hands.
It was only natural. Rei had produced polearm weapons entirely at odds with his slight frame—not just one, but both Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, seemingly from thin air.
The bandits stared with expressions of pure incomprehension.
That brief moment of bewilderment—truly only a few seconds—was enough to restore a sliver of composure.
And once they regained their composure, their eyes naturally gravitated toward the unusual weapon Rei was holding: Death Scythe.
"Crimson…?"
One of the bandits murmured.
Perhaps because the others had been so transfixed by Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear, and the laughter from moments ago had died away completely, the quiet murmur reached every bandit's ears.
Among the rumors surrounding Rei—no, surrounding Crimson—the most famous detail was that he wielded a massive scythe called Death Scythe.
Some who heard those rumors and admired Crimson had even tried using a similar weapon.
A large scythe, however, was an extremely difficult weapon to master.
Naturally, only a handful managed to wield one like Rei did. The vast majority gave up, unable to handle it.
With such a conspicuous weapon in hand, it wasn't hard to guess who Rei was.
Beyond that, he held the Twilight Spear in his left hand alongside Death Scythe.
Those well-versed in rumors might also know that Crimson practiced the Twin Spear Style, wielding Death Scythe and the Twilight Polearm simultaneously.
Whether these bandits knew that particular rumor was another matter entirely.
"Ah, so someone here knows my alias. Incidentally, bandits like you also call me the Bandit Eater. …So, what'll it be? It'd save me some trouble if you just surrendered quietly."
Rei repeated the same words, but this time, no mockery came from the bandits.
Naturally. Until moments ago, they had dismissed Rei as harmless—someone who might have fighting skills, but nothing that could possibly touch them.
But if the person standing before them was an alias-holding adventurer, that changed everything.
The bandits fell silent and froze in place.
Rei watched them for about thirty seconds before judging that leaving things as they were would accomplish nothing. He began walking toward them.
The bandits tried to retreat from Rei's approach, but—
"Grrrrl."
Set, having circled behind them at some point, growled in warning.
"Hiiih!"
Had they been highly skilled assassins, they might have detected Set's presence. But these bandits were accustomed to preying on the weak, not fighting the strong.
Among bandits, there were sometimes fallen adventurers, ex-mercenaries, former soldiers, or disgraced knights—but none of those types stood among the bandits before Rei.
The bandit closest to Rei—the one at the front of the group—turned half-reflexively toward the growl and scream erupting from behind him.
Or perhaps it was instinct, a desperate urge to tear his gaze away from Rei even for a moment. But in front of Rei, that was suicide.
"Gueh!"
The man who had looked back was struck in the torso by Death Scythe's shaft and sent flying. He slammed into his companions, dragging several of them down as he tumbled across the ground.
"That was a bit much."
Rei winced, having felt ribs shatter through the shaft of Death Scythe.
He needed to take them down with as little injury as possible to avoid wasting potions, yet he had broken bone.
Still, at least it was ribs. If I'd ruptured an organ, that would have been no laughing matter.
Even with potion treatment, the difference between broken ribs and damaged organs was significant—both in ease of recovery and in the amount of potions required.
With that in mind, Rei was at least relieved the injury wasn't worse—
"Uoooooh!"
"If you're launching a surprise attack, making noise defeats the purpose."
"Gueeh!"
He drove the butt cap of the Twilight Spear into a bandit's stomach—or more precisely, he thrust gently while pulling his strength, careful not to damage any internal organs.
Thanks to the restraint, the bandit avoided serious injury.
"Maybe I shouldn't use these if I'm holding back. The numbers are small, anyway."
In his peripheral vision, Vihera was also attacking the bandits.
Her expression, however, showed a complete lack of motivation.
Vihera did have a battle maniac streak, but that only applied when facing strong opponents.
Against bandits like these, her enthusiasm plummeted rapidly.
Even so, watching bandits get sent flying and knocked unconscious by her single strikes made it clear she was properly handling her role.
"Fair enough. Bare hands should work for me, too."
He stored Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear back in his Misty Ring and closed the distance on the bandits.
That said, he didn't use any special footwork or kick off the ground to close the gap in a flash. He simply walked toward them.
Even so, the sight must have been terrifying for the bandits.
They tried to flee, but Set let out a cry at precisely timed moments—intentionally, no doubt—to herd them back and pin them in place.
Once he reached the frozen bandits, Rei thrust out his fist.
A dull thud rang out—one that barely sounded like a punch connecting with a human body—and the struck bandit instantly lost consciousness, crumpling to the ground.
Rei glanced at the fallen man, opened his fist, clenched it again, and nodded with satisfaction.
In terms of neutralizing opponents without inflicting fatal injuries, this was more efficient than using Death Scythe or the Twilight Spear.
And so he continued—two, three, four—punching and knocking them unconscious one after another.
The bandits couldn't flee. They knew surrendering would only lead to slavery, and they understood they had no chance of winning. But they had no choice but to attack Rei.
"Uoooooh! Kill him, kill him, kill him! If we lose here, all that waits for us is despair! To survive, we have to kill Crimson—kill the Bandit Eater!"
With that battle cry, several bandits charged at Rei.
Setting Set aside, more bandits attacked Rei than Vihera—who at a glance looked like nothing more than a prostitute or dancer—likely because they recognized Rei as the leader.
Their plan was probably to take down Rei and escape in the chaos while Set and Vihera were disoriented.
But for Rei, that was exactly what he wanted.
Dodging swinging longswords, axes, and clubs, he punched each attacker in the abdomen.
Rei wasn't as skilled in bare-handed combat as a professional like Vihera, but even so, against mere bandits, a single strike from him carried more than enough power to rob them of consciousness.
One after another, the bandits dropped.
There had been about twenty bandits in the group they encountered, but even if it had been double—forty—no, even if it had been ten times that at two hundred, it would have taken Rei somewhat more time, but he never would have struggled.
"Guh… hah…"
When the last one lost consciousness and fell, the one-sided rout was over.
"In the end, nobody surrendered."
Even if it was just punching them unconscious, it had still been somewhat of a hassle.
"You're right. It would've been less trouble if they had. More importantly, I'll keep watch over these bandits, so why don't you head back to the city and bring the guards and a slave trader? Dragging all of them back to town is going to be quite a pain, you know?"
At Vihera's words, Rei nodded and called out to Set.
"…Huh? Are you serious? You've already taken down the bandits?"
Hearing Rei's words, the guard raised his voice in astonishment.
Naturally. Less than thirty minutes had passed since Rei had announced he was going to deal with the bandits and left.
Being told that every single bandit had been defeated in that time wasn't something he could just accept at face value.
Then again, given the circumstances, there was no reason for Rei to lie. His victory was undoubtedly fact.
"Yeah, so I'd like the guards and a slave trader to come with me. …Actually, on second thought, the slave trader doesn't need to come along, does he? The guards will take them into custody, question them, and then they'll be sold off, right?"
"Ah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, I don't see any problem with that."
The guard who had been listening managed to force out just that much.
Bringing a slave trader along right now would serve no purpose other than inspecting the quality of the bandits who would become slaves.
In that case, there was no need to drag one out here.
However, Rei's group had already decided to leave the city as soon as possible, so it would be better to have a price set quickly, even if it meant accepting slightly less.
Negotiating with a slave trader would take a reasonable amount of time.
But Rei wasn't particularly particular about the price.
As long as it wasn't insultingly low, having them bought up at a slightly reduced rate posed no problem at all.
With that settled, the guard quickly rounded up his fellow guards, gathered slave traders who had either overheard Rei's report or learned of it through rumors, and set off for the bandit site.
For Rei, the lucky part was that a carriage had been prepared to transport the captured bandits.
Since the opportunity was there, about five slave traders rode along in the carriage.
If he flew on Set, they could have arrived in about a minute—but that was only thanks to Set's flight speed.
Traveling on the ground, on foot no less, would have taken considerable time.
Riding a carriage eliminated that entirely, so Rei was naturally pleased to go by carriage.
"Whoa… this is…"
Upon arriving at the site where the battle had taken place, one of the soldiers muttered in astonishment.
Naturally—about twenty bandits were all lying on the ground.
"For the record, I didn't kill anyone. …Though some of them are seriously injured, so they might die without treatment."
At Rei's words, the guards nodded and began binding the unconscious bandits.
Given that these were bandits, they likely didn't care if one or two died.
The city's limited potion stock was also a factor here.
If they recover them with potions, the slave traders will lose one excuse to haggle the price down, though.
He didn't mind selling them cheap, but being haggled down effortlessly wasn't particularly satisfying either.
With that in mind, Rei proceeded to negotiate the price with the slave traders.