"Did I keep you waiting?"
"No, I only just got here myself."
To anyone listening, it might have sounded like a couple meeting for a date.
But Rei and Seto looked no different than usual, while Lindy wore armor that appeared to be made from some type of monster hide and carried a spear in her hand.
The reason Lindy wore leather armor instead of metal with higher defensive value was partly financial, but there was also a more practical consideration.
Adventurers, by nature, spent a great deal of time on their feet.
Because of that, the weight of metal armor would drain her stamina accordingly.
Of course, there existed metal armor in the world that was lighter than leather, but such equipment was naturally extremely expensive—far beyond anything Lindy, who sent part of her earnings to the orphanage, could afford.
"Still, are you sure you want to come along? You have the day off, don't you? You'd be better off resting and recovering your strength..."
"I can't afford to do that. There might be clues about where Golias went... so there's absolutely no way I can just sit here quietly."
Lindy's words carried unmistakable resolve.
Even if Rei had tried to leave her behind, she certainly wouldn't have stayed put. It was easy to imagine her heading out to find the bandits on her own.
That was exactly why Rei had decided to team up with Lindy—not for a bandit hunt per se, but to question the bandits about what they might know.
"I'll say this upfront: I don't know if we'll actually find any bandits, and even if we do, there's no guarantee they'll know anything useful."
"I don't care. It's the intuition of an A-Rank Adventurer, so it's worth trusting. Besides... I'm actually grateful for the chance to earn some extra income."
For Lindy, any temporary income she could earn was money she could send to the orphanage.
Having heard from Rei about the orphanage's circumstances—that the merchant guild which had been making donations had ceased them due to a change in leadership—she wanted to send as much money as she possibly could.
"In that case, wouldn't it have been better to bring along other adventurers from the orphanage? Setting me aside, if a group of bandits came at you all at once, it'd be hard for you to handle them alone, Lindy."
In Rei's case, given that he had made bandit hunting a hobby for some time now, dealing with a group attacking all at once was easy enough.
But the same could not be said for Lindy.
She possessed a reasonable level of skill as an adventurer, but while she could manage against one or two bandits, if she faced ten or twenty at once, she would lose.
Of course, with Rei and Seto present, it wasn't really a problem. Still, honestly, Rei would have preferred that she gather a few more people so as not to trouble them unnecessarily.
"I wanted to, but the others were either out on requests or had gone somewhere even on their days off, so I couldn't reach any of them. ...Besides, normally people don't just set out on a bandit hunt the moment the idea strikes them?"
"Apparently there's a saying in some region that the day you decide on something is an auspicious day."
"...Even if such a saying exists, I don't think 'bandit hunting' quite matches the notion of an auspicious day. Anyway, that's why I couldn't get in touch with anyone else."
"Then it can't be helped. I couldn't exactly bring along ordinary adventurers, either."
"Right. Having the amount I can send to the orphanage decrease wouldn't be very welcome."
The rewards from this bandit hunt had already been agreed to be split fifty-fifty.
From Lindy's perspective, considering the difference in ability between herself and Rei, she felt he should take a larger share. But Rei wasn't particularly short on money.
However, if there were any Magic Items or other things Rei wanted, he would receive priority in claiming them.
"Having an adventurer who doesn't know the situation join in could lead to disputes over the shares, so in that sense, I'm not thrilled about it either."
Rei agreed with Lindy's words, but he had other reasons as well.
Since this was related to the bandits, he wondered whether adventurers might somehow be involved in the bandits' disappearances.
If they were simply defeating bandits in the normal fashion, that wouldn't be any problem at all.
However, with Golias's situation potentially intertwined, it was a fact that various complications could arise.
Rei had no desire to go bandit hunting while constantly watching his back.
And so, Rei set out from Egginis together with Lindy—and naturally, with Seto as well.
"They're not here, huh."
"Hmm... Seto is keeping his distance too, so I'd have thought bandits would come out by now."
Rei replied to Lindy's words.
It had already been about two hours since they had left Egginis and begun searching for bandits.
As Rei said, Seto was waiting at a distance from him.
Though "waiting" was the word used, it was more accurate to say he was spending his time freely—flying through the sky or roaming around the mountain where Rei and Lindy currently were.
If the bandits saw an adventurer accompanied by a gryphon, they would instantly recognize Rei—the person known as the Bandit Eater.
If that happened, unless they were extremely confident in their own strength or fools unable to face reality, they would never dare to attack.
Especially since bandits had been disappearing around Egginis lately.
Given that, the bandits had undoubtedly grown more cautious.
It was precisely because they were bandits that they became so careful about their own safety.
Those incapable of such caution would have been repelled while attacking a large merchant guild, or found and killed by adventurers who had accepted bandit subjugation requests—all without ever needing to encounter Rei and his group.
Still, going this long without being attacked is honestly unexpected. Could it be that the number of bandits remaining in this area is even smaller than I imagined?
From the information Rei had extracted from the bandits he encountered on his way to Egginis, he recalled them saying that there were still quite a few bandits operating around the city.
Even setting that aside, it was hard to imagine that the bandits in this area would overlook Egginis, which was an ideal target.
If they determined that the bandits who had been around Egginis were gone, it wouldn't be surprising if less cautious or more greedy bandits came to the city one after another.
If they were reasonably competent bandits, considering that the bandits around Egginis were vanishing one after another, it wouldn't be strange for them to sense the danger and stay away.
"No bandits showing up, huh."
"Setting me aside, maybe they're being cautious because you obviously look like an adventurer?"
"...When you put it that way, Rei, I can't exactly accept that."
Lindy showed a dissatisfied expression at Rei's murmur.
Still, looking at it objectively, if asked which of the two—Rei or Lindy—appeared more dangerous, most people would answer Lindy.
After all, Rei was simply wearing the Dragon Robe, which appeared as an ordinary robe due to its concealment effect, and carried no weapon whatsoever.
He didn't even carry a staff, so he wouldn't even be mistaken for a mage.
In contrast, Lindy wore leather armor and carried a spear in her hand.
At a glance, which one was more dangerous was obvious without even needing to think about it.
Of course, if someone had an eye for appraising Magic Items or could discern an opponent's skill from slight mannerisms, it might be a different story.
"In any case, just waiting for the bandits to show themselves won't accomplish anything. Maybe I should search from the sky with Seto? Though in this kind of mountainous terrain, the tree branches would get in the way, so I'm not sure we'd be able to spot anything."
If a bit more time passed and the season shifted from late summer to autumn and then late autumn, leaves would fall from many of the trees, making it possible to clearly observe the ground from the air.
However, in the current season, that was not possible.
Of course, the entire mountain wasn't covered in trees—there were areas without any.
If bandits happened to be in one of those spots, they could be found.
Though relying on such a coincidence would be a mistake.
Alternatively, there was also the option of using Seto's sense of smell rather than searching from the air.
Especially in Seto's case, since he had the Sense of Smell Enhancement skill, it would be far more reliable.
"What do you think? Should I call Seto... no, never mind. Maybe this is what they mean when they say speak of the devil."
Rei had been about to ask Lindy whether he should call Seto, but sensing a presence approaching them, he changed his words mid-sentence.
"Huh? What is it?"
In terms of her ability to sense presences, Lindy was less skilled than Rei, and she couldn't understand why he had suddenly said such a thing.
"We have guests. It seems they've finally found us."
"By guests, you mean..."
She must have understood who Rei meant.
Lindy readied her spear so she could swing it at any moment and braced herself where she stood.
And in less than a few minutes, nearly ten men came into view.
People who looked like bandits at a glance.
On an unusual note, there was one woman among them.
Of course, while having a woman among bandits was uncommon, it wasn't so extraordinary as to be particularly strange.
Given that, there was no need to pay it any special attention.
"Heh heh heh heh, hold it right there. Just the two of you in the middle of a mountain like this... are you maybe inviting trouble?"
"Correct."
Deciding there was no point listening to the bandit's unnecessary words, Rei gave his blunt reply to the provocation.
"Huh?"
The bandit, apparently not expecting such a response, showed a momentarily blank expression.
To the bandits, the only threat was Lindy with her spear.
They figured that even with Lindy, if they all attacked at once, the difference in numbers would be enough to overwhelm her.
That was why being addressed so confidently by Rei, whom they had dismissed as an afterthought, must have been completely unexpected.
"Lindy, just handle them however you see fit for now."
"Got it."
Since Lindy had been bracing for the bandits as well, she heard Rei's words and immediately prepared to act. But faced with the two of them responding in a flow entirely different from what the bandits had anticipated, the bandits bared their irritation and opened their mouths to shout.
"Guboh!"
But in the next instant, Rei, who was supposed to be standing at a distance, was suddenly right next to the speaker and drove a fist into his solar plexus.
The man had been wearing leather armor, but since it was what a bandit used, it was by no means high-quality equipment.
In fact, it couldn't cushion the impact of Rei's strike at all, and he lost consciousness in a single blow.
Looking only at the result, what Rei had done was similar to the Magic Impact Palm that Vihera used—a skill that dealt a direct shock to the opponent's internals.
The difference was that Rei's strike simply punched forcefully through the leather armor and used that raw impact to deliver a shock to the opponent's body—a brute-force approach that merely produced a similar effect.
"Hey, hey. Cut the jokes al—... huh?"
At first, the bandits must have thought their comrade who collapsed from Rei's attack was just acting, trying to mess with Rei.
But the fallen man vomited everything in his stomach onto the ground, and even then he was still showing signs of agony.
Looking at that state, it was impossible to believe anyone could perform such a thing as a joke or an act.
If the bandits had been more skilled, they would have immediately gone on guard against Rei.
But the fact that he was small and carried no apparent weapon took time for the bandits to accept as reality.
And Lindy had no intention of letting that opening slip by. She quickly swung her spear and struck a nearby bandit's head with the butt of the shaft.
If this had been an ordinary bandit hunt, she might not have bothered—she could have pierced his head with the spearhead or slashed his throat. But the reason Rei and Lindy were here was solely to extract information from the bandits.
They couldn't kill them.
Beyond that, Lindy may have also thought that capturing the bandits alive would allow them to be sold as slaves for more money, which would mean that much more could be sent to the orphanage.
And so, Rei and Lindy moved swiftly. Before they knew it, the fight was already over.