That day, the guards at Sabrusta’s gate, who were diligently fulfilling their duties despite shivering in the cold that pierced even their winter clothes, all had expressions of surprise on their faces.

The reason was that a group of carriages was heading towards their city.

No, they wouldn’t have been surprised if it had just been that.

Since Sabrusta was located at the entrance to the frontier, many people passed through here after all.

At this time of year, with winter approaching, the merchant caravans rushing towards Gilm had mostly settled down, but even so, there were still caravans and merchants coming from far away that arrived at Sabrusta with decent frequency.

In other words, the guards at the gate wouldn’t be surprised just from seeing a group of carriages.

As for why they were surprised……

「H-Hey. Am I seeing things? That caravan……it looks like they’re bringing a huge number of bandits with them.」

「Could they be slave traders or something?」

「No way. They wouldn’t tie up their merchandise and force them to walk like that. Besides, everyone they’re dragging along have vicious faces.」

「But, would bandits around here get caught that easily?」

「No, they look like bandits to me too. I even recognise some of their faces. ……But, how many are there? Twenty……no, thirty? It looks like there are even more than that.」

「There are a lot of bandits around here, and considering that, it’s not impossible……but still, they did well to capture that many bandits.」

Yes, there were people tied up with ropes and forced to walk, being pulled along by the carriages.

Their hands were tied behind their backs, and their torsos were linked together like a rosary and tied to the body of the carriages. Even though they were moving slower than normal carriage speed, they were still being forced to walk at a speed slightly faster than a normal human’s walking pace.

Several people were tied to each carriage and there were a lot of carriages.

They all had expressions of despair on their faces.

The people watching on found it strange that they all had the same expression on their faces.

Normally, it wouldn’t be strange for some of them to have looks of hatred towards those who captured them or to have thoughts of escaping somehow showing on their faces.

However, among the people currently being brought along by the carriages, there wasn’t a single person with such expressions.

As the guards exchanged words of disbelief, one of them suddenly noticed the person leading what seemed to be a caravan of sorts.

「Hm? Hey, that……could that be Rei?」

「Rei? From Gilm? Come to think of it, I haven’t heard his name recently.」

「Wasn’t he supposed to have gone to the Bestir Empire with Margrave Rowlocks? Margrave Rowlocks came back a long time ago though.」

「Ah, right, right. Now that you mention it, that’s right. ……Why is Rei coming back separately?」
「Looking at that, is he acting as a guard for the caravan?」

「……Throwing away his job as a guard for Margrave Rowlocks?」

Hearing the words spoken by one of the guards, the others agreed, thinking that was certainly true.

As a guard for Margrave Rowlocks, a noble with some of the greatest power within the Mireana Kingdom, he had headed to a neighbouring country they had been hostile with for many years. To abandon that escort mission and return while guarding a caravan would normally be unthinkable.

「Then……could it be that caravan was given an important request by Margrave Rowlocks, and Rei was told to guard it?」

『Ah.』

At that explanation, everyone let out voices of agreement.

If that was the case, they could understand why Margrave Rowlocks hadn’t brought Rei along as a guard when he passed through here a while ago.

「Anyway, since they brought bandits, we’ll have to interrogate them and make arrangements to sell them as slaves. I’ll go call some people. With that number of bandits, we won’t have enough hands just by ourselves.」

「Got it, I’m counting on you.」

Watching their colleague leave towards the city, one of the guards muttered out loud.

「Processing that many people is a pain. Thinking about it, it would be a lot easier if they just passed by Sabrusta and headed straight for Abuero.」

「Hey, don’t say something so careless. They’re bandits from around here, you know? If they were interrogated or punished in Abuero instead of Sabrusta, it would just be a disgrace to us.」

「Yeah, yeah. ……Ah, so they are coming this way after all. Well, it’s already afternoon, and even if they headed for Abuero now, they’d have to camp out in this cold weather, so it can’t be helped.」

As the guards let out sighs amongst themselves, the group that seemed to be a caravan eventually approached.

「Welcome to Sabrusta. It’s been quite a while, Rei.」

The guard who had processed Rei’s entry when he visited Sabrusta previously spoke with a smile.

Rei seemed to recognise them as well. He nodded as he jumped down from Set’s back.

……The guards were surprised to see Set up close, but although they were surprised for a moment, that was all.

As expected of the guards working in Sabrusta, the entrance to the frontier.

It was also true that Set himself had become famous, and that his reputation had spread all the way to Sabrusta.

「Yeah, I had some business and was out on a long trip.」

While listening to Rei’s words, the man turned his gaze towards the bandits tied to the carriages.

「So, Rei. Those……people tied to the carriages are……」

「They’re bandits. We were attacked on the road while heading here. What’s more, three bandit groups banded together to attack us, so I took the opportunity to round them all up. Normally, dealing with bandits is a pain so I basically just kill all of them, but the others with me need some money. It just so happened that Sabrusta was close by, so I captured them and brought them here.」

「R-Right. ……Normally, capturing bandits isn’t something that can be done so easily. Especially rounding up several groups all at once.」

The guard had an expression of mixed exasperation and admiration as the guard who had returned to the city earlier came back with reinforcements.

After that, they took away the bandits tied to the carriages.

「Damn it, you cowards!」

「Do you think you can get away with doing this to me!?」

「Why are there monsters like these guys here, damn it……」

「I’m sorry. It was just a sudden impulse. We might have starved to death at this rate. So please. Please forgive me.」

While watching the bandits being taken away as they each voiced words of regret or sour grapes in such a manner, Rei began the procedures to enter the city.

Of course, it wasn’t just Rei. The people riding in the carriages were also going through the procedures.

「Even so, you did well to capture that many bandits. Wouldn’t it have been tough with just you, Rei?」

「Yeah, probably. Defeating them aside, if they had scattered and run away all at once, I probably wouldn’t have been able to capture all of them even with Set. However, in this case, I had these guys with me.」

Since there were so many of them, he replied while looking at the people going through the procedures all at once with many guards.

「These people……they aren’t a merchant caravan or anything, right?」

Those people, who were visibly highly skilled, didn’t look like they were part of a merchant caravan at all.

Of course, there were some people who ran both a mercenary group and a merchant caravan, but they didn’t look like that either.

「Yeah. They’re people hoping to immigrate to Gilm. I got to know them through some connections. So, I ended up escorting them on my own way back. ……Also, Rhodes is in that carriage over there, so please be careful.」

「Rhodes……you mean, from Axe of the Thunder God?」

「That’s right. He’s currently unconscious due to the aftereffects of a magic item.」

The guard was surprised at Rei’s words and widened his eyes.

Rei had become famous around here quite recently and in a very short period of time, but a few years ago, Axe of the Thunder God led by Elk, who held the same title as his party name, were the more well known adventurers in the area, and Elk’s son Rhodes was also famous as a promising newcomer.

「……What about treatment?」

「There’s nothing we can do here. Once we return to Gilm, I think Elk will be able to prepare something though.」

「I see. Then, there’s nothing else for me to say. Please transport him very carefully.」

The conversation regarding Rhodes ended there, followed up by the discussion regarding the captured bandits.

「Even if you sell them as slaves, it would be better to put them up for auction if you want to sell them for a higher price, but……」

The guard trailed off as he looked towards the bandits that had been taken away.

It was only natural. Slaves that sold for high prices at auctions were basically beautiful female slaves or slaves who had some sort of special skill.

Slaves with high combat power could also be sold for a high price, but even so, the skills of mere bandits wouldn’t be worth talking about.

「Personally, I think it would be better to just sell them to a slave trader here in Sabrusta. The price will be lower, but you’ll get the money in your hands that much faster.」

「……When you say we’ll get it faster, specifically when will that be? I’m planning to leave Sabrusta tomorrow.」

At those words, the guard shook his head slightly.

「As expected, getting it done by tomorrow is impossible. Considering the procedures here, it will take a few days……depending on the circumstances, about a week to ten days will be necessary.」

「That’s a bit……no, wait a minute.」

Even though he was leaving tomorrow, taking the trouble to come back all the way here was a pain.

In the first place, the reason he captured the bandits this time wasn’t for his own money, but for the members of the former guerrilla unit……as Rei thought that, he caught sight of Sergio and got an idea.

「Sergio, come here for a bit.」

「Yes? What is it?」

Sergio, who had finished his procedures to enter the city and was chatting to ask what kind of city Sabrusta was, came over to Rei.

「Make him the recipient for the money from the bandits.」

「……Ah, I see.」

With the short words that came out of Rei’s mouth, Sergio probably understood what was going on. He nodded with a smile.

「Yes, I don’t mind. After that, I just need to deliver the amount to you, Rei?」

「No, that’s not necessary. Split it among yourselves.」

「……Pardon?」

Unable to understand what he had been told for a moment, a dumbfounded voice came out of Sergio’s mouth.

As Sergio was someone who normally didn’t show any openings, it was incredibly rare for him to show such a dumbfounded voice and expression.

「Like I said, I’ll give the money from selling these bandits as well as the subjugation reward to you guys.」

「No, but the one who captured these bandits was mostly you, Captain Rei, right?」

「Like I said, I’m not your captain anymore. This is, you know. ……Something like celebration gift of sorts? Like a ‘Welcome to Gilm’. Besides, you abandoned your homeland, the Bestir Empire, out of admiration for me, didn’t you? Let me do at least this much.」

「But……」

Ignoring Sergio, who still looked like he wanted to say something, Rei turned his gaze towards the guard.

「That’s how it is. Please do the detailed procedures after this with Sergio.」

「……Haa, well, we don’t mind who it is on our end, but……」

The guard was somewhat bothered by the words ‘Bestir Empire’ that came out of Rei’s mouth, but he didn’t say anything unnecessary.

「Well, that’s that. Listen up, unlike the places up until now, Sabrusta is quite a large city. There are also multiple inns. For that reason, you’re free to do what you want from here on. We’ll be departing tomorrow at 9 AM, so those of you coming to Gilm with me, don’t forget. Well, it’s not like this city is hard to live in either, so if you decide to stay here, just tell Sergio or someone and that’ll be fine. It’s not that far from here to Gilm, and you probably won’t get lost. That’s all, dismissed.」

Deciding that any further arguing would be a pain, Rei declared that and entered Sabrusta together with Set.

It was only something he could do because he had already finished his procedures to enter the city, but Sergio couldn’t chase after Rei.

Now that Rei was gone, he had no choice but to do the procedures for the bandit subjugation reward and selling them as slaves.

「Ah, seriously. It can’t be helped. Look, everyone else, dismissed, dismissed! I’ll take care of the matter with the bandits over here, so everyone else is free to do as you like!」

Sergio gave up as well as he called out to everyone else.

 

 

Rei, who was making his way down the main street of Sabrusta, was already holding several meat skewers in both hands, as if it were only natural.

He would give a skewer to Set every time he gave a cry while biting into another one himself.

As he did that, a blacksmith’s shop suddenly caught his eye.

It was because he remembered that he had picked up the magic sword Noiz had been using.

Of course, there had been blacksmiths in the villages and cities they had stopped at so far.

But, the reason he hadn’t stopped by any of them despite that was because he didn’t know if Noiz’s sword could be repaired, and even if it could, he predicted it would take a considerably long time.

There was also the fact that Rei himself wasn’t used to using a long sword.

It was the most common weapon in this world, but Rei had become too used to swinging the Death Scythe around.

He stared at the shop for a few seconds, before shaking his head and giving up.

If he was going to do it, he thought he would have it repaired in a place with a blacksmith even more skilled than here……in Gilm.

「Guru~!」

As he was thinking like that, Set pulled on the Dragon Robe with his beak to draw his attention.

「What’s wrong?」
「Gurururu~!」

At the end of Set’s line of sight, as he gave a happy cry, was an udon food stall.

「I think they were selling udon when we came here before too, but……if we’re going to eat, it might be good to compare it with last time.」

Set gave a cry as if to say ‘I agree!’ as Rei walked over to the stall to eat udon for the first time in a while.

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