The bandit was ultimately handed over to the guards without any fuss.
Afterward, Rei completed the paperwork and entered the city.
Since there had been only one bandit to hand over, the amount of money Rei received was nothing to write home about.
If Rei had gone to meet the Slave Trader himself and negotiated to sell the bandit as a Criminal Slave, he could have fetched a slightly higher price.
But for Rei, the hassle simply wasn't worth it.
That was why he had opted to sell the bandit to the guards instead.
While it fetched a lower price than selling to a Slave Trader, the procedures were completed swiftly.
If Rei had been hurting for money, or if he enjoyed the art of negotiation with Slave Traders, things might have been different.
But he was neither of those things.
Given that, leaving it to the guards for a quick transaction was undoubtedly the best choice.
"Alright, then that leaves... heading back to the inn. I don't expect any information has come in already, though."
"Gururu?"
Seto purred at Rei's words, as if asking, "Is that so?"
From Seto's perspective, he probably thought the information might have already arrived.
But it was the Alchemists and Fleeing Adventurers Rei had spoken to today.
Moreover, Rei had ridden Seto and flown down from the mountain, whereas they were on foot. And it wasn't just the Alchemists and Adventurers—there was a Stone Golem with them as well.
How fast was a Stone Golem's walking speed? Could it even traverse mountain paths on foot in the first place?
Considering those circumstances, Rei could estimate that even including the time he'd spent capturing the bandit, seizing the iron Ingot treasure, and gathering information, they were likely still in the middle of descending the mountain.
Of course, that was strictly Rei's assumption, and it wouldn't be strange if there existed some method he was unaware of that allowed them to move swiftly through the mountains.
After all, there were Alchemists among them.
While they were Alchemists who specialized in manufacturing Golems, it wasn't as if they couldn't make Magic Items.
It wouldn't be strange if, during the process of manufacturing a Golem, they had developed an entirely new Magic Item by some stroke of chance.
Given that, it wasn't an absolute certainty that they were still on the mountain... but even so, going by Rei's estimate, he felt they probably hadn't returned to the city yet.
Rei's prediction was confirmed when he entered the inn and asked the front desk if any messages had been left for him, only to find none.
(Well, even though I've returned to Egginis, I told them to come to the Star River Inn only if they had information. If they have nothing to report, they wouldn't come.)
With that in mind, Rei was about to head to his room when...
"Rei!"
A voice suddenly called out from behind him.
Turning at the familiar voice, he found Maruka, just as he'd expected.
Nicky was there too, at Maruka's side.
Seeing the two familiar faces, Rei raised his hand in greeting.
"Maruka, are you done for today?"
"Yes. How about you, Rei? You went bandit hunting today, didn't you?"
"Found some bandits, but they didn't have the information I was after. I did see something interesting, though."
"Oh... how intriguing. I would be glad if you could tell me more?"
"Sure. Want to talk while we grab something to eat? I'll be heading back to Gilm temporarily tomorrow, so I don't have much time left to chat with you and Nicky."
"Goodness... that is a shame. Should I just go to Gilm as well?"
"Please don't, my lady. It's Gilm, you know? If we went to a place packed with monsters like that, I wouldn't be confident I could protect you."
That was what Nicky said, but from what Rei could see, Nicky possessed considerable ability of his own.
There was no doubt he had enough skill to make a living as an Adventurer in Gilm.
Among such circumstances, Nicky saying that was likely to prevent Maruka from going to Gilm.
For Nicky, guarding Maruka was his top priority.
That was why he must have insisted that he couldn't fully protect Maruka in Gilm.
(What on earth does he think Gilm is? ...Well, it's true that there are all sorts of unusual people there, no mistake. Besides, with the Expansion Construction bringing in so many people right now, there are definitely extra strange characters around.)
Even those who had lived in Gilm for a long time probably wouldn't know exactly what kind of people were currently visiting the city.
Even for the Underworld Figures led by Egg, with so many people gathered in such large numbers, grasping all of them was difficult.
In that sense, during the début of the Crystal Dragon corpse that Rei had slain, they were able to capture several suspicious individuals they hadn't been aware of, so Egg was undoubtedly grateful.
"Hmm... Nicky would be fine, wouldn't he? Even if Nicky couldn't manage it, you're there, Rei."
"I think Brother Rei would be fine, but even so, I can't cause trouble for him."
Faced with Nicky's desperate insistence, Maruka showed a reluctant look of acceptance.
Maruka probably hadn't seriously thought she could go to Gilm either.
She had said it with the feeling that it would be a lucky bonus if she could, so being turned down didn't depress her too much.
"Hmm, it can't be helped. I'll give up on it then."
Along with Maruka and Nicky, Rei headed to his room.
Several people had taken interest in their suggestive conversation just now, and more than anything, they found it questionable that Rei was casually saying he would return to Gilm.
Naturally, most of those staying at the Star River Inn desired a Golem from the Dolan Workshop.
Many assumed that Rei wanted such a Golem as well.
However, the question of who the Dolan Workshop's next Golem would be sold to, and how, had not yet been decided.
In that situation, traveling from Egginis to Gilm would naturally take a corresponding number of days, and what would happen if the method of sale for the Dolan Workshop's Golem was decided during that time?
It was only natural that many people would have such questions.
Of course, the Dolan Workshop would likely allow a few days of leeway, but a journey from Egginis to Gilm would normally use up all of that leeway. ...That is, if one were traveling normally.
But in Rei's case, he had his partner Seto.
Even so, with the matter of the Dolan Workshop's Golem pending, he had no time to relax in Gilm.
He needed to obtain the Crystal Dragon materials from the Guild, stay one night, and then immediately return to Egginis.
Maruka understood this as well, which was likely why she had said she wanted to go to Gilm too.
While some people harbored such doubts, there were also a few who, knowing of Seto's existence, were convinced.
Leaving those people behind, Rei headed to his room with Maruka and Nicky.
"Oh, a Stone Golem, you say."
When Rei recounted the events on the mountain in the room, Maruka murmured with interest.
For Maruka, the fact that a Stone Golem's operational trial was being conducted in real combat against bandits was probably unexpected.
Given that there was a building where Wild Matches were held, it wasn't strange for her to think so.
(No, but this is Maruka, right? It wouldn't be strange for her to have predicted that much. If so, could the fact that she's this delighted be... perhaps to show that she's interested in what I'm saying?)
He harbored such doubts, but from the look of Maruka, she seemed to be genuinely surprised, and it was hard to believe it was an act.
"And then, what else happened?"
"Huh? Ah, right. After that, I found the bandit Hideout, but unfortunately only one bandit was left behind there. And inside the dugout cabin in the Hideout, for some reason, there was a massive number of Axes."
"...Axes?"
Why would there be so many Axes? It was only natural for Maruka to wonder that.
Rei also didn't know why there had been so many.
Well, to be precise, he could understand that Axes had been placed there as spare weapons for the bandits to use.
But what Rei was questioning was why the bandits had been so fixated on Axes in the first place.
(I probably should have asked that bandit about that.)
Now that the bandit had already been handed over to the guards, it would be difficult to ask him why they had so many Axes.
Alternatively, just like possessing a large quantity of iron Ingots, the possibility that they had obtained the Axes in bulk from some raid couldn't be denied either.
"By the way, here's one of those Axes."
To Maruka, who had been listening with interest, Rei produced a single axe from his Misty Ring.
He didn't entirely dismiss the thought that it might be dangerous to let Maruka hold a bladed weapon, but it wasn't as if Maruka had never touched blades before.
After all, she showed interest in rapiers when visiting a weapon shop, so she was somewhat accustomed to bladed implements.
Given that, Rei judged there would be no problem showing her the axe.
"Huh, so this is it. Looking at it, there's nothing particularly strange about it. It's just a normal axe. Though, rather than a combat-use... so-called Battle Axe or war axe, it's the kind of axe a Woodcutter would use for work," Nicky muttered, examining the axe Rei had produced.
Rei was a little surprised, not expecting Nicky to be able to appraise weapons.
Well, for common weapons like longswords and spears, it wouldn't be strange for someone to be able to assess them.
But when it came to Axes, the story was different.
There were people who used axes in combat, but compared to weapons like longswords and spears, the number of users was smaller.
...Those who used large scythes like Death Scythe were even fewer than those who used axes.
"You can tell?"
"Not in great detail, but there are definitely differences between a Woodcutter's axe and an axe used as a weapon. You know, it's like how there are differences between a short sword and a knife, right?"
When put that way, Rei could accept it.
There was a certain difference in what could be called the specifications between a combat-use short sword and a knife used for some kind of work.
It wasn't an absolute rule, since one could use a knife in combat or a short sword for work, but the specifications did differ.
"Even a normal axe can be used as a weapon, so maybe they had prepared a large quantity of them. Besides, axes are more about smashing the opponent, or cleaving through with a strike, rather than slashing."
"That might be true. That said, with those weapons confiscated by Brother Rei, I don't know what will happen to the bandits."
Having used Axes as weapons with the assumption they would break, losing their spares for when they did would be a significant blow.
Rei understood that as well, so he nodded honestly at Nicky's words.
"Probably. Plus, their treasure too..."
Saying that, what Rei took out of his Misty Ring next was an iron Ingot.
"Was confiscated by me, pretty much all of it."
"Treasure? Huh? That's it?"
"Oh, an iron Ingot. But that is the bandits' treasure?"
Both Nicky and Maruka spoke with baffled expressions.
Thinking about it normally, one would imagine bandit treasure to be gold and silver, or perhaps artworks or Magic Items... and the like.
But for Rei, who made bandit hunting his hobby, there weren't that many bandits who had such treasure.
...That said, Rei couldn't help but feel that having iron Ingots as treasure was a bit questionable.
"Yeah. It seems they got them by attacking a merchant. If you sell these Ingots properly, they fetch a decent price."
"Hmm, iron has a fair number of uses. If that's the case, then what you say is correct, Rei. However... I suppose they were left behind because there was an issue with bandits trying to sell them?"
"Something like that. For the merchants who trade with bandits, they could sell iron Ingots if they wanted to, but actually doing so wouldn't yield much profit. And iron Ingots have considerable weight. For a merchant, it's a product that takes effort but yields little profit."
Furthermore, the iron Ingots Rei had obtained were a fairly large quantity.
Even if a merchant tried to sell them to a Blacksmith, questions about where they obtained them would likely become a topic of discussion.
Thinking about such things, Rei continued his conversation with Maruka and the others.